Redemption
by armless-phelan
Summary: Is there any salvation in a dead world? Sequel to Resurrection. TW: Violence, some sexual content, graphic imagery
1. Prologue

Prologue 

A/N: I welcome you to _Redemption_, the darker and more pessimistic companion to _Resurrection_. Man, I need shorter names for these fics. Or multiple words so I can have an abbreviation of some sort.

I finally got _Dawn of the Dead_, so now I know a little more of what I'm writing about. It's a shame what happened to Roger. He was definitely my favourite. Steven was just a jerk.

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The wind whispered through the sea of people, a hollow echo of everyone watching as she stood. Nobody had expected this. They knew her, knew some of what she had been through. For her to want to do what was being done… it was completely unlike her. She'd never known how to offer sympathy to another soul.

It had been a month since the arrival of the survivors: a month filled with stories passed from person to person about murder, deceit, and undead beings called Rots. No matter what the topic of discussion was, though, there was always a mention of her bizarre behaviour. Most didn't dwell on it.

"An untold number of people have died since I arrived here. Most succumbed to the plague, but a few were killed either by the other living, or by their own stupidity," she said loudly as she made her way to the podium. Every eye followed her progress. The tall blonde woman who had been speaking at the memorial service gulped nervously but stepped back to let her fellow refugee continue the odd eulogy. "Those who are walking around, brainless and violent, they're dead. No heartbeat, no body temperature: they just aren't alive anymore. They're not your family, your friends… your lovers. They're dead."

A murmur went through the crowd, but no single voice could be distinguished except for hers. Deceptively innocent, the blue-sky overhead showed no reflection of the turmoil of the people below.

"However, something tells me that those who are dead, _really_ dead, are far better off. They don't have to deal with the bullshit that we do: the asinine comments about how crazy the bald chick is. When you talk, I do listen. Don't piss me off. I get angry, and then I get violent. People get hurt that way."

"You should probably stop now," the blonde woman told the shorter one as she tried to resume her position in front of the dais.

"No!" the other screamed angrily. She turned around and pushed the other speaker to the ground before readdressing the audience angrily. "Fuck you, bastards! You think I'm losing it, but I'm more together than the rest of you. I lived the epidemic, escaped two cities full of Rots. A giant corporation created it in some sick attempt to replace the SOLDIER program."

Then the crowd began to boo. Rather than become discouraged, though, she just became more insistent.

"Would you damn fuckers just listen to me? If you're not prepared, then you're going to die. You need to know what the fuck is going on here before you end up like the damn idiots you're here to mourn! This isn't some judgement from some god."

"Then what is it?" a heckler shouted angrily.

"Get off the stage, you stupid bitch!" another screamed.

Three men in full SeeD regalia stormed the stage and began grabbing at the woman. She fought back, like everyone had expected. One of her fists met with a chin while her left foot crashed into one of the SeeD's gut. The third man tackled her and pinned her to the ground, and she began cursing at the top of her lungs. The crowd responded in kind, throwing insults at her with the same spite that she had towards the dead, or, rather, the undead.

"You're all acting like dumbasses! Grow the fuck up!" she cried at the top of her voice as she struggled against the three men dragging her away. "You have to listen to me. They told me. The dead told me!"

After she was gone and everyone had settled down, the blonde woman returned to the podium. "I apologize for that. Please allow me to reread from the beginning the names of those lost so far:

"Almasy, Seifer; Arae, Julize; Berna, Adette…"

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A/N: There will be many obvious differences between this and _Resurrection_. One is the level of horror, but that won't come about until later in the fic. Another is the length of the chapters. I hope to make them about three to four thousand words each. The most noticeable will be the time between the postings of the chapters. Again, I have irregular access to the internet and a job to deal with.

I wish I had more to say, but since this is only the beginning of the fic, I don't. Well, nothing other than check out TCBT. It's a FFIX SI fic. Obviously, there is a link in my profile.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter One 

A/N: Now we really get into the weirdness. Remember the woman from the Farplane in the last chapter of _Resurrection_? Well, now you get to know who she is. If you haven't figured it out by now, that is…

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"I told you not to do it."

After the first week or so, the apparition's voice had lost its ethereal touch. Now she spoke in a steady, solid voice. (A/N: Actually, I'm too lazy to bother with the italics that I'd used in _Resurrection_.)

"Fuck you," Tessa spat as she ran her hand over her freshly shaven head. She had decided to stay bald, to hide the identity of just who she was, who she had been created from. There was nothing that she could do about her eyes, though. Many times, she had heard people whispering about her eyes and their red hue. Many times, she had been driven to rage, but had retained enough control over herself to prevent succumbing to her violent tendencies.

"You don't listen, do you? People won't believe you if they think you're crazy. Calling victims of a deadly plague idiots isn't the best way to get your message across, and announcing that the dead are talking to you isn't much of a confidence booster, either."

Tessa slammed her fist on the table and looked into the brawler's eyes. "What the hell do you call this? What are we doing right now? This is complete and utter bullshit. There was no reason to drag me down here. I know you bastards are watching me!"

The last statement was made to a camera that she couldn't see but knew was in the room.

"This?" the woman said to the teen with a hand gesture indicating the correspondence between the two. "This is me doing a favour for a fellow dead friend. She can't move on…"

"She can't move on until I let her go, blah, blah, blah," Tessa snarled with a roll of her eyes. "Nobody, dead or alive, bosses me around. If it weren't for the fact that I can't touch you, I would have kicked your ass a long time ago, Miss Save-the-world. When will you give up?"

Her face scrunched up in disgust before relaxing with a sigh. The warrior toyed with her hair and paced in front of the table at which Tessa had been forcibly seated. "I'll give up when I'm given up on. You still haven't told him that I'm dead. Why haven't you?"

"I like the look on your face every time you beg me to," the medic laughed cruelly. "I never asked to be haunted by some inept fighter who did nothing to save the world except flirt with the blonde man in love with someone else. To think, I used to worship you. I guess Tifa Lockhart isn't the hero she was made out to be, huh?"

This time, it was Tifa's turn to pound the table. To anyone else, there wouldn't have been a sound. Tessa heard it clearly. In fact, she revelled in it.

"Listen to me very carefully. Do not piss me off. I can be helpful and friendly, or I can be bitchy and evil like you. Do you want that? Would you like the first choice, or the second?"

"I want it all," Tessa smirked. "I want you to suffer just as much as I am. I want you to feel sick to your stomach whenever you wake up. I want you to be wracked with guilt and indecision whenever you find yourself alone with your thoughts."

A small frown developed on Tifa's face, and lines on her forehead took their cues from her lips. "Why are you so unhappy? You are so lucky. You're alive. Thousands of people are dead, with millions trapped somewhere between the two. Why can't you just accept what Soa has given you?"

Tifa expected anger from the former redhead, a show of the dangerous flair that she had come to know over the past month. Laughter wasn't the thing she least expected, but she was still a little shocked by the evil chuckle emanating from the short female.

"Lucky? That is not the word to describe anything involved with my life. My best friend is dead. My… whatever the hell Adette was to me, she's dead. When people are around me, they die. You should know that. Then again, you are the one stupid enough to get bitten. How did that happen, anyway? Aren't you, I mean, weren't you the strongest woman in the world? Or was that just some propaganda that you pounced on the first time you heard it? Because we both know that Yuffie Kisiragi wasn't the strongest, and I'm certainly not. Well, not yet. Before I can do that, I have to find a way to kill ghosts so that I won't be bothered by this particular bitch who keeps bothering me at the most inopportune of times!"

What had begun as a simple jab at Tifa quickly escalated into another of the teen's trademark bouts of anger. Her rant of curses was punctuated every now and then by a scream of rage and frustration as she pounded on the walls and kicked at the table. Someone had obtained the foresight to nail the furnishing to the floor, so it wasn't overturned. Not to say that it wasn't damaged.

"Be glad they can't hear you," the woman with the red eyes gasped moments later as she attempted to catch her breath. "These people here are Hyne nuts. Not too fond of Soa, if you know what I mean. They might think you're crazy. Of course, I'm sure they think I am. Meh, just fuck 'em, I say."

"If you're so certain they're watching you, then why are you speaking so freely? Wouldn't it be smarter to keep your mouth shut when under observation? Like you do when I talk to you in front of other people?"

Laughter returned, but not as severely as it had been before, though the same undertone of cruelty could still be felt. "Why not let them find out about us? If they think I'm crazy, maybe they'll pump me full of drugs and I won't be able to hear your annoying voice anymore. If they believe me, then maybe I can convince these dumbasses to actually do something to save themselves. Either way, I win."

"You really are horrible, aren't you?" Tifa whispered. "You weren't like this back in Galbadia City. You were mean, yes, but not vindictive."

"Like you know me."

The older brawler shook her head and sighed. Then she blinked and disappeared.

---

Quistis rewound the tape and watched her former student talk to thin air as fluidly as though there were someone else in the room. There wasn't the choppiness that she had observed in Squall when he did that in his youth. She wasn't answering her own questions. Then came the scenes of violence. A chair was thrown in the direction that the teen had been looking while talking, as though there was something she was aiming for.

"She's obviously unstable. A clear danger to herself and others, I recommend that the girl be put under the medical wing's care immediately. To let her back into the public is nothing short of irresponsible," a tall redheaded woman remarked. Her hair was swept up into a bun that was fixed neatly into place by a pencil rather than ornamental hairpin. Quistis remembered her bun, the one she no longer wore because it reminded her of her life with her friends, all of who were dead. The Instructor could sympathize with the girl when she too claimed that she had lost everyone she cared about.

Of all people, she had been informed of what had occurred by Vincent Valentine. His memory had been fuzzy of the events following his transformation, but he could easily recollect the details leading up to it. They'd found the reanimated body of a young girl, and Antessence had gone crazy when they killed it right in front of her. Certain details had obviously been omitted, but it didn't take a genius to figure out that the dead girl was the same girl that her former student had been "romantic" with.

"The girl is clearly lucid," a third woman spoke in a voice that was soft yet cold. Edea Kramer peered at the girl on the monitor. "What we are observing is a coping mechanism. She has lost her friends, perhaps even her family. I do not know, since my husband never sent me a copy of her file. However, I do suspect that her subconscious created someone for her to interact with, new or old it does not matter. She is not the first I have witnessed engage in this activity. The young blonde man that arrived with Quistis and this girl's party is doing much the same, only without the violence. Release the girl, but if her behaviour does escalate to anyone person, including herself, receiving harm, you may retain her, Dr. Welsh."

"I want to talk to her," Quistis interjected. In the month since her arrival, she had taken up her position as Instructor once again. However, there had been many changes in Garden protocol since that month. Her duties had been extended to include security patrol to ensure that none of the undead was aboard the mobile school.

Also, immediate measures had been taken up to ration what water and food remained since there were few ports that could take them. Fisherman's Horizon, with its peaceful demeanour and unarmed citizenry, had easily fallen to the Rots. Nobody had heard from Esthar, though the country still retained its isolationist ways so it was not unexpected. Junon was not an option. Shinra had to have figured out where their escapees had fled to, even if half of said refugees were still clueless as to why the events of that night had even occurred. Dollet, with its mountainous terrain, was still safe, but they had turned away the Garden for fear that its inhabitants might carry the deadly disease of which they had heard. Costa del Sol was unknown, but the worst was believed to have come of the vacation resort.

The students hadn't taken the restrictions seriously at first, believing it to be some sort of joke. Crackdowns began shortly after.

"Perhaps later," Edea said wisely. "For now, we must observe where she is headed before we guide her to where she must be. We should probably have someone watch her without knowing what is being done."

"What do you mean?"

"Simple. Dr. Welsh, we must have one of the students room with her: someone that the girl can relate with, and has no clear connections to us. When we need information, Instructor Trepe can obtain it through mere conversation, as opposed to us just placing a mole. Who would you recommend?"

"Wait. Why am I the one that has to talk with the spy?" Quistis asked. Honestly, she thought that Edea has come up with a good plan, but she didn't want to betray the trust of her former student.

Two days after the escape from Junon, Tessa had approached the tall woman with a very soft look that betrayed her hardened, trained voice. The words were read off as though they had been practised over and over again. Tessa requested that she be released from her duties to Garden. In other words, she wanted to quit the SeeD program. It was a shame, too. Quistis had almost convinced Edea to officiate the girl as a SeeD.

"You're the youngest," Dr. Welsh explained, clearly having grasped what the former Sorceress was going for. "You're only, what, nineteen, twenty? You are these kids' age. You can talk to them in a way that neither of us can."

"Dear Quistis, who do you recommend? Perhaps that young man that accompanied you and the others here. The one with the white hair?" Edea suggested with no knowledge of the relationship between Tessa and the other teen.

"No!" the Instructor exclaimed rather quickly. With an embarrassed chuckle, she readjusted her glasses before explaining her outburst. "Hunter, Mr. Vance, I should say, has long been a suitor of Miss Matleo. However, she holds great distaste for him. In fact, on several occasions I witnessed her striking him, and not in that friendly way that some people do. Blood has been drawn."

"Headmistress," Dr. Welsh interjected brightly, "I have an idea of who we place with the girl. What about Satis? Surely she, if anyone, can reach this troubled girl."

Quistis raised an eyebrow. "Who is Satis?"

"She is another troubled young girl that has been enrolled in my Garden," Edea stated with that ever-mystical tone of voice that she had. "I do not know much about her, other than she did not join Garden until she was fifteen, the same age that you graduated."

The redheaded physician turned to the screen and watched as the bald girl sat upright the chair she had thrown not long ago before. Then Tessa planted herself in it and looked around the room rather unhappily. The camera caught glimpses of her anger whenever she turned its way.

"Would she be a danger to Antessence?" Quistis wondered as she mulled over whether or not it was the opposite that would occur.

"Something tells me that this arrangement would be beneficial to both girls," the doctor added. She turned to Edea with a look of inspiration on her face. "Headmistress, I officially put in my recommendation for Satis as that girl's roommate."

"Very well then." Edea pressed a button on her intercom.

Seconds later, her assistant's voice crackled over the device. "Yes, Ma'am?"

"Would you have Satis Cano and Antessence Matleo brought up to my office please?"

There was a moment of silence before the intercom came back to life with the young man's voice. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," she answered without an ounce of impatience. "Page them both over the intercom."

---

Tessa was angry. She was released from the hold, only to be summoned to the Headmistress's office moments later. The ride in the elevator was filled with dirty looks from the other passengers. It wasn't something that she was unaccustomed to, since they were fairly common back at Balamb Garden, but that didn't help with her temper at all. Hyne only knew how bad things would have been if she'd had to walk to the elevator. As it was, the hold was in a large chamber in the basement of the Garden, so she only had to endure four or five dirty looks.

It stopped at the second floor and all but one of the people got off. The other passenger leaned forward and pressed the close button, much to the dismay of the young man running to catch the elevator.

"You headed up to Matron's office, too?" the other girl said with no malice at all. Caught slightly off-guard by this, Tessa had no time to formulate a response. "You must be Antessence Matleo. I've heard a lot about you. Most of it wasn't pleasant."

"Do I look like I care? Just who the fuck are you, anyway?"

Adjusting her long green hair, which was most likely dyed, the girl smirked and held out a hand, which was ignored. It was a habit of Tessa's. "Satis Cano: Level Two Sabre with a Minor in Magic. Third year upperclassman."

Red eyes continued to look over the form of the girl who could be no more than two years older than Tessa herself. She was short, thin, and had eyes the same shade of jade as her hair. She wasn't wearing the student uniform, which most of the non-SeeDs. Balamb Garden was about as informal as Trabia Garden, but far more students wore their uniforms than didn't, which could not be said about Trabia.

"You're probably wondering about the hair, right?" Satis interjected to break the silence. She took a single strand of the grass-coloured follicles and wound it around her finger. "Most people do. They think it's dyed or something like that, but it's actually much more embarrassing. See, I was studying Magic with one of the freshman and…"

"Do I look like I give a fucking damn about any of that?" interrupted the irritated protagonist. "Fuck! Why won't this elevator move any faster?"

They rode the rest of the way in silence. It seemed to take hours, but it was really only about twenty seconds until the elevator reached its destination. Separately, the two girls stepped out into the lobby. Tessa had never been on the third floor before, so she was amazed to see the people running about and taking a second elevator up and down yet another floor.

"Over here!" a man of about twenty in a SeeD uniform called when the teen didn't move. She saw him sitting behind a desk with a laptop set on the top. "Satis is already inside. They're waiting for you."

"I wonder who they are," a voice whispered in Tessa's ear. The hairs on her arms sticking straight up, Tessa turned her head and wasn't one bit surprised to see Tifa standing beside her with a big smile. She had taken to appearing at the most inopportune of times since her arrival.

Tessa curled her fingers into a fist but didn't strike. She knew that it wouldn't do any good. During the first few days of Tifa's "visits", the teen had attempted to harm the dead warrior with no success.

"Could we not do this now? I'm pissed off enough as it is," Tessa huffed under her breath as she pushed open the door. Aside from Satis, there were three other women: A redhead, the black-clad Edea, and Quistis. She flashed a sarcastic smile at the Instructor. "Oh my! I haven't seen you in ages. How have you been? Is life still a seething hellhole for you, too?"

"Antessence…" Quistis said in a warning tone.

Edea interrupted with a hand on the blonde's shoulder. "Be calm, child. You know her ordeals. Come, sit."

Taking a seat in front of the Headmistress's desk and next to the girl with the green head, Tessa felt her heart rate rising rapidly. It didn't help that Tifa was nodding at her from behind the redhead.

"Girls, Dr Welsh," Quistis nodded at the woman Tessa didn't know, "Matron, and I have discussed this at thoroughly. Considering your 'unique' histories, we have decided that you two are good candidates to share living quarters."

"Um, Dr. Welsh…"

"Yes, Satis?" the woman said as she shifted her posture.

"Do you think that Renea would approve of this?" the girl asked nervously. She cast a sidelong glance at Tessa with worried eyes. "You know she doesn't like for big decisions to be made when she's not around."

"It shall be dealt with," Edea assured her. "You need not worry."

Pounding her fist on the table, Tessa called the attention back to where she believed it belonged: herself. "What the fuck is this? I quit Garden. You can't just assign someone to live with me without some form of consultation. Is this some sort of punishment for the memorial service? Because you can just fuck that. All I did was try to tell the morons on this boat just what the hell was going on in this shithole of a world."

"Am I a punishment?" Satis wondered. "Would you really use me, or Renea, like that?"

"Never, child," Edea told her.

"We are merely hoping that you two will overcome your 'histories,' since your current roommates can't."

"Fuck you, Dr. Dumb-as-shit. I don't have to stand for this," Tessa cursed as she stood up. She stood up and walked to the door.

"Miss Matleo," Quistis said in an unusually strong and authoritative tone. "It would be best if you took your seat. After all, you just admitted that you are no longer a part of the SeeD program. You don't have any rights where the dorms are concerned. We don't even have to allow you to remain aboard Garden."

"You're bluffing," the younger of the two women choked out in surprise. Even Tifa's eyes were wide at this. It just wasn't a very Quistis-like action. "You wouldn't…"

The Instructor tucked her bangs behind her ears with a sigh. "You're not the only one being inconvenienced by this. Who do you think has to do the paperwork? Who has to deal with the repercussions of your little show this afternoon? You pushed me to the ground and attacked three SeeDs!"

"Hey!" Tessa shouted. "They attacked me! I was defending myself!"

"Just shut up." Tifa pinched the bridge of her nose with the middle and index finger of her right hand. "They are serious. Very serious."

Giving in, Tessa took the seat next to the green-haired girl with the confused face.

"Very well then. Since Antessence has no roommate and is in one of our extra double dorms, perhaps we should just move Satis into her room, rather than moving her roommate out and Antessence in."

"Dismissed," Edea told them. "You may begin preparations."

"Well," Tessa finished with fake enthusiasm. "That was a fucking waste of my time. Can I go now?"

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A/N: There, first official chapter of _Redemption_ finished. How do you think it went? Tessa seemed pretty in character, but I'm worried that Tifa may not be. Also, just so there's no confusion, this will be my secondary fic now. TCBT is getting to the point where it's actually quite important to me, so I'm probably only going to work on this when I'm really sick of my SI or when I'm really inspired. So expect updates to take awhile. Okay? Okay.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 

A/N: This chapter isn't much in my opinion. It's just to show that this fic is going to be more versatile cast-wise than its predecessor. Really, it's just about how life is going for the refugees onboard the Garden.

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She played with the fringes of the jacket she had been given that day. It was a day that changed her whole life. Somehow, she had gone from her home in Kalm to the Shinra HQ at Junon. AVALANCHE and some people from SeeD helped her escape. A few even died in the process. What caused her the most trouble was simply why. Why had she been taken from her home, and why couldn't she remember being kidnapped? Why did Shinra want her? And, most currently, why did the man with spiky blonde hair keep staring at her?

It had started with glances whenever they passed in the hall. Harmless enough, she believed. It soon became much more. Whenever she turned a corner, he would be there. Nothing was ever said, but his eyes were on her at all times. She knew who he was. Who didn't? Cloud Strife had been the one to save the world from Sephiroth.

That didn't explain why he was stalking her.

Eisis pulled the leather duster tighter around her body and sped past him to the cafeteria for her daily rations. Even though she, like most of the survivors of the escape from Shinra, wasn't a member of the SeeD program, Trabia Garden had allowed her to stay onboard. Apparently, there was some disease going around that killed people and then resurrected them as brainless cannibals. How long it would be until the mobile military academy fell prey to what the rest of the world was suffering from was only a matter of time.

Quietly, as had become the custom of everyone as of late, she grabbed her tray and joined the line of students, SeeDs, and faculty alike. Nobody stared at her, each wrapped up in thoughts and worries of their own families. How she longed to be reunited with her own. She didn't know anyone, and nobody was friendly to her. They weren't unkind to her, either, just indifferent. The only people that paid attention to her were her stalker and the other refugees. There was one boy in particular, a young man with white hair, who often flirted with her. He would smile and tell her how pretty she was. It was much more pleasant to experience than the scrutinizing gaze of her other admirer.

"Are you well, today?"

A smile played at her lips as the subject of her thoughts joined her in line. He had possessed deeply tanned skin when they first met, but in the ensuing month it had paled to almost the same hue as his hair.

"I'm fine," she muttered nervously. Everyone said that she looked like her father, but that Eisis had inherited her mother's extreme shyness. The girl was far from outgoing. "How are you?"

He grinned at her as a pile of mashed potatoes was dumped onto her tray. The cafeteria lady grunted and slapped some of the spuds onto the young man's tray as well. Both grabbed a sandwich before sitting in the secluded part of the cafeteria that they always did. It has become such a habit that Eisis's meals had become the highlight of her day. The rest was spent either asleep or working in the library. It was a mindless task meant to keep her out of the way. Not that she minded. Eisis found that she needed something to do to make the days pass.

"I am wonderful, now that I am sharing the company of such an attractive woman such as yourself," he said before sticking his spoon into the molehill of potatoes. Each resident of the Garden had been given a set of dinnerware during the first week of the siege. It was the individual's responsibility to look after it, though how the utensils were obtained was still a bit of a mystery.

"How are the floors?"

His grin drooped a little, but he remained polite. "It is as well as one is to expect. Dull work meant for simpletons and a waste of my aptitude, but what can I do? My orders are mine alone. Still, a Vance is meant not for common drudgery."

"Shall I say grace today?" Eisis wondered. Despite the fact that Gardens were typically viewed as places of death, what with their mercenary training programs, religion was still an important part of many of the students' lives. However, Eisis and her companion were firmly in the minority when it came to their own personal beliefs. SeeDs and students of Gardens were almost always followers of Hyne. That was not the faith that the two friends subscribed to.

"Everything sounds better coming from a woman's mouth."

Eisis dropped her head, closed her eyes, and took his hands in hers. "Great and benevolent Soa, the fruit of your Tree of Life continues to grow in these dim times. We thank you for the blessings we receive each day. Hunter and I thank you for this food that sustains us, and the protection we receive amongst these peoples. Our gratitude has no limits. In your Holy name, we dedicate this day and every one that follows to you."

When she finished, Eisis look up and gasped. Standing behind Hunter was Cloud, still staring at her. A chill went down her spine.

"Is something amiss?" Hunter asked, turning around and seeing only Cloud leaning against a wall and watching the younger people eat. He turned back around with a huge grin on his face. It wasn't the usual one that he had whenever he had just ogled one of the many girls in their mini-skirts. This was his patented Cloud-is-here smirk. It was a testament to the greatness he felt the man held. "Is it believable that he would decide to remain here? He could have left with his pilot friend on the helicopter and gone to the Gold Saucer. Why would he remain behind?"

She felt sick. Everything that Hunter had just said was true, but she knew one thing he didn't. She knew why Cloud had stayed. It was her. Though he never said it or spoke to her, she knew.

"I'm not feeling well," she said quietly as she stood up and pushed her potatoes away. Hunter looked from the tray to her and back to the tray before asking if she was okay. "A nap should fix me up. I should probably get some sleep before I go to the library, anyway."

"What about your food?" Hunter asked as he pointed to the white mound with his spoon. "You know that you cannot take it from the cafeteria unless you are of a high rank."

Cloud caught her eye again and she dug her nails into the sleeves of her jacket. "You can have it. I'm not that hungry. Besides, you shouldn't be so pale. You might be getting sick."

"Are you confident that you are not in need of medical care? I can escort you to Dr. Welsh," offered the snowy-haired teen. "It is not far."

"Really, I'm fine," she lied before rushing out of the cafeteria. All the while, she knew she was being watched.

---

"The girl still has not spoken to you?"

Quistis shook her head and leaned back into her sofa. The man standing in the chair across from her wiped his gun off with his tattered red cape before returning it to one of the many holsters on his body. She doubted that even he knew just how many there were.

"She hasn't volunteered anything. And after her interruption of the ceremony yesterday… I'm just running out of ideas of what to do with her. Why can't you just tell me what they did to her while we at Shinra?" the Instructor asked. "We've known each other for awhile, Vincent. It's time that you were honest with me."

He scoffed and set another of his guns on the glass table between them. The significance of the gesture was not missed.

"We can kick you out of here, you know. Just drop you off on any island that we choose," the woman threatened with absolutely passion. It was hollow, and they both knew it.

"There is not much that I can tell you," he admitted before looking directly into Quistis's eyes. "And it is not my place to tell you what I can. All I can say is that this girl, this Antessence, is very troubled. She experienced horrors that rival even my own. No to mention her own personal losses. She is without friends or family, yes?"

"Many are," Quistis confirmed sadly.

"You?"

She was taken aback slightly by the question. Nobody brought up her friends around her anymore. Whether it was because they were simply too concerned with their own relatives and companions or they knew the pain thinking about them caused her was unclear. "I have Xu, Nida, and Matron."

Vincent's face remained void of any expression as he asked his next question. "What about family? Surely, you have relatives somewhere."

"No. I was in an orphanage. My family was slaughtered during the second Sorceress War." It wasn't something that brought any sadness to the woman. She had never known them. They were merely facts for her.

A small grin found its way onto Vincent's face, but only for a moment before disappearing. "Were you not adopted? Do you not have another family somewhere in the world?"

The thought of her adoptive family was something that did stir feelings in Quistis.

"Why are we talking about me? We're here about Antessence," Quistis reminded her acquaintance. "You're the one hiding information about one of the residents of this Garden."

"You cannot lecture me. I am not one of your students. If you wish to retain my counsel, you would do well to remember that."

"Just answer me this." Quistis could feel the beginning of a headache and was not eager to have someone around to irritate it. "Why is it so important that I talk with her? Why can't someone else, Matron, perhaps, deal with it?"

"That is simple enough." Vincent chuckled. "She likes you."

Quistis shook her head. "She doesn't like me. Not anymore, anyway. You saw what happened yesterday. She all but attacked me."

"But she didn't, did she?" Vincent posed. "The girl is clearly one with violent tendencies. Why she did not react so violently with you as she did those young men is obvious. What isn't obvious is just how much she likes you."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

He just smiled and leaned back into his chair.

"You don't think she could…"

"Could what? Be in love with you? Definitely not. I saw how she looked at that girl's body back in Junon. That is not how she looks at you. She holds admiration, not infatuation.

---

She looked the book over and chewed on the end of her pencil. Even though the world had indeed gone to hell, that didn't mean that classes had ended. She still had to learn. Why that meant the study of the creation of Materia she didn't know. It was illegal to create Materia through Mako concentration anymore, anyway. The Arklay Conventions had seen to tha"Hey, Satis," a girl with long brown hair pulled into a ponytail said brightly as she sat beside her friend. "Laen just told me that you've been placed in another room. Is it true?"

The teen sighed as she wrote an interesting line from the book onto a piece of paper. She did have an important test the next day, and the events of the current day weren't doing anything to calm her down. "Yeah. Matron told me, personally."

"Really?"

Edea, the Headmistress, insisted on being called Matron, choosing a more familial model in the running of the Garden, as opposed to her husband's more academic musings or Martine's insistence on military protocols. The students were happy to oblige. It was more relaxing for them than the traditional title.

"Did I not just say so? And people say I don't listen."

"No, it's Renea who doesn't listen. How is she, by the way?"

Satis laughed and set her pencil down. She had hoped to get some quiet by studying in the library, but it seemed that wouldn't happen. "You would know better than me."

"Right, I keep forgetting about that," her friend said. "So, who's your new roommate?"

"You remember that bald chick from the other day?"

"The one from the memorial service? No way. Why would Matron stick you with her?"

She scratched her ear and stuck the pencil behind it. "Something about our unique histories. Something tells me that it might be more about Renea than me, though. Nobody ever wants to worry about the good one. It's all about Renea. Renea this. Renea that. I wish someone would just get rid of her already."

"Why don't you?" the girl inquired.

"You think I haven't tried? I can't. Renea is one of those things that just won't die. She makes my life a living hell. Remember when she beat up Instructor Ross?" Satis groaned. "Nobody would speak to me for a week."

"It's not like we blame you for what she does. People here just expect you to have some sort of influence over what her. She doesn't exactly respect the whole chain of command."

The green-haired girl closed her book and looked up at the clock. "Shit! I was supposed to be in the training centre twenty minutes ago!"

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A/N: It's a little short, and the ending is weird, but I just didn't know what to do with this chapter. It never really found a foundation. The whole Eisis being stalked by Cloud thing is interesting, though. Isn't it? What am I going to do with that?


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 

A/N: Who is Renea? Why is she so important? Whatever happened to Fujin? How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsy Roll centre of a Tootsy Pop? Some of these questions may be answered in this chapter, or they may not. The only way you'll find out is to read it!

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Three women and one man sat in Edea's office. Each one had a look gloomier than the last. However, the Headmistress herself seemed detached from the emotional strain that seemed to have run down the rest of the group.

"What news do you bring me?" she asked, resting her chin on the back of her hands, with her elbow on her desk.

The first to speak was a young woman with brown hair that just barely covered the nape of her neck. She hadn't been at Trabia Garden long, having just a few days before the infamous Shinra refugees. Still, her aptitude and rank at Balamb Garden had quickly brought her into a high position of power in her new surroundings. "The cooks are telling me that our food and water supplies are starting to run low. They're doing the best they can, but the best predictions are that we can only make them last for another month."

"We can't cut the rations any lower without risking severe malnutrition," Dr. Welsh, the third woman, added. "I'm already getting several cases of exhaustion. The residents of the Garden are overworked and underfed as it is. If they were to learn of this, then there could very well be mutiny."

The young man sighed. "Give the people some credit, would you? I've walked among them, and they seem to be adjusting just fine. Classes are continuing at a regular rate, and, from what Quistis tells me, grades aren't suffering."

"Who cares about grades, Nida?" his friend asked as she rubbed her temples in an attempt to alleviate some of her stress. It wasn't working too well.

"It's a purpose. Something for them to strive for so that they don't lose their minds."

"Xu, Nida, be calm my children." Edea's voice acted as balm to soothe away some of the tension in the room. "We are low on supplies. Are there any suggestions as to remedy this?"

"We could raid the small port towns," Xu offered. "Return to Balamb, send a team of our best SeeDs to retrieve what we need, and then get them the hell out of there."

Dr. Welsh shook her head. "That isn't a good idea. What if there are still people on the island? If we take all of their food, then they are certain to die. However, if we find them and bring them aboard Garden, our remaining supplies will dwindle even faster."

"What do you think we should do?" Xu asked the physician.

"How about thinking outside of the box? That seems to be something that SeeDs are taught to do at an early age."

Everyone turned to Nida for his input, but he just shrugged. "Don't look at me: I'm just a pilot. I don't even know what I'm doing here."

The door to the office burst open dramatically and a man with spiky blonde hair burst in. "What the fuck did you call me up here for? I was in the middle of a fight with a T-Rexaur in your training centre."

"That's it!" Xu snapped her fingers. "The training centre!"

"What?" Cloud shouted.

Edea blinked very slowly. She smiled a smile that showed that she had already planned just what Xu was thinking. The SeeD looked at the floor and took her seat. The other two conspirators looked at each other with raised eyebrows while Cloud glowered.

"Yes, I had anticipated running out of supplies years ago, before I was possessed by Ultimecia. That is why the training centres include T-Rexaurs as well as Grats. The plant-like monsters have been providing food for our real food…"

"And the decomposing carcasses have been enriching the soil for in case we ever need to grow crops!" Dr. Welsh concluded. "That is ingenious, Matron."

"That still doesn't answer the question of why the fuck I'm here."

Edea looked at Cloud briefly before readdressing her think tank. "If you will excuse us."

One by one, they stood up and left. Xu was the last out the door, and she looked at the man her age and the woman who could have been her mother.

After the click signifying that the wooden portal was closed, Edea gestured for the hero to take a seat. He rudely declined.

"Now are you going to tell me what the fuck you want?"

"Mr. Strife…" she lilted with her soft voice. "I need to ask you a favour."

---

Tessa stood in the crowd by the directory, waiting to hear just what the announcement was. All students and SeeDs had been called there to be given special instructions. Curious, she showed up. Tifa had been her annoying self and followed her with a running commentary concerned around the fact that the teen was getting involved in matters that didn't concern her.

"You quit the SeeD program. You shouldn't be here."

"What does it take to get you to shut the fuck up?" Tessa cursed, ignoring the looks of the people around her, each one wondering just to whom she was talking. "She's about to start."

Indeed, Xu climbed to the top of the stairs and called for quiet, which was unnecessary since Tessa's voice was the only one that could be heard. When all eyes, even Tifa's, was focused on her, the SeeD began to explain the situation. When they heard that the food supplies were starting to run out, a slight panic began to run through some of the younger students.

"Calm down, everyone!" Xu shouted. "Dr. Welsh, Matron, and myself have discussed this, and believe that we have reached a solution."

"They're probably going to fuck the rest of us over and run off with what we have left," Tessa growled, but was quickly shushed by the people around her, dead and living.

A redheaded woman that Tessa didn't recognize ascended the stairs and stood beside Xu. "We are going to clean out the training centre of all monsters."

"What fucking good will that do?" Tessa shouted, drawing dirty looks from Tifa and Xu, but a murmur of agreement swept through the students. "Are you planning on having us scarf down the Grats or some such shit?"

"Actually," the doctor said as she attempted to retain her composure. "We are hoping to be able to secure it so that we may use it as an agricultural centre, and our source of meat will be the T-Rexaurs. It's not perfect, but we have to do what we can. So please, listen to what Xu has to say."

"Fuck that!" another girl, this time one with green hair shouted. Tessa thought for a moment that it might be her new roommate, but the outburst seemed too uncharacteristic for it to be the same mild-mannered Satis that she had met in Edea's office. "You're out of your fucking minds if you think I'm going to eat one of those damn things."

"Sounds like you," Tifa taunted. Tessa just gave her the finger, unintentionally offending some random student. "What, you're not interested?"

"Fuck you!" Tessa shouted, fed up with the ghost's constant barrage.

"People, listen!" the Dr. cried frantically. Apparently, she assumed Tessa to be talking to her.

Tifa stared Tessa in the eye. "Would you just shut up and hear them out?"

After a few more shouted insults from the green-haired girl concerning the state of Dr. Welsh's sexual history, everyone quieted down and Xu took the opportunity to explain just what they were planning.

"We are going to divide up into groups of four: three students and one SeeD. They are going to work together to eliminate all of the threats. Obviously, the SeeD will be the leader of the four man group…"

---

Tessa was pissed. After arguing with Xu over the virtues of her combat (it was a long argument), the crimson-eyes warrior had managed to get herself assigned to one of the four-person extermination teams.

Unlike Balamb Garden, which used GFs, Trabia Garden subscribed to the strategy of using Materia, joining the ranks of Galbadia and Shinra in the use of the "magical stones." At her request, Tessa had been given a Lightning Materia. Accompanying it was a warning of the relative uselessness of it against the monsters in the training centre. She didn't care. Because Tessa, didn't have a weapon, the Garden "loaned" her a bangle to equip the Materia to. Unlike Shinra, which used the unprocessed Materia, Trabia had the stones that were sized, and shaped, to put into the weapons and accessories.

The reason for Tessa's unhappiness didn't involve her lack of firepower. She was still confident in her martial arts. Besides, she'd also been outfitted with Heal and Restore Materia because Xu remembered her medical training. What upset her was the fact that her team was all men. There was a blonde student she didn't know, and the guitar player from the bar.

"I'm Fehn," the musician offered. She just growled and returned to acting as though he didn't exist.

Her attention was held by the team leader. He was short, had spiky, blonde hair, and wielded a sword with a violet blade that she knew all too well. She alternately grimaced and smirked as she remembered their first encounter.

"Not exactly great," Cloud criticized as he looked over the troops. He lingered on Tessa for just a moment before continuing with his scrutiny of the others. "I suppose you'll do."

She grated her teeth, but didn't offer her sarcastic comment concerning his "greatness" when she'd brought him to his knees back in Junon.

"What are our orders, Captain?" the blonde boy asked. Tessa avoided looking at him whenever possible. There were too many bad memories associated with the colour of his follicles.

Cloud scraped his sword on the dirt floor before pointing to one of the doors that led to actual combat area, as they were in the "safe" part of the Training Centre. "Contrary to what they may have led you to believe, there are only four other elimination squads operating. The rest are reserves, should anything happen to us out here…"

"Cut the shit," Tessa sniped as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Who is doing what?"

One set of altered eyes stared into another, neither one wanting to let down. "The boys will be joining me in the offensive. You are to avoid combat and serve only as a medic."

"Fuck you," Tessa spat angrily. "You think that just because I'm a girl I can't fight? Well, you seem to forget what happened back in Junon…"

"I remember Elena kicking your ass and then saving you," the swordsman countered. "Twice."

"You're the dumbass that stabbed me!" she shrieked as she raised a particular finger in Cloud's direction.. "I should kick your fucking ass right now."

Fehn stepped between them and held his arms up, portraying the stereotypical peacemaker. "Don't we have a mission?"

"Some fucking mission. We're offing some plants," Tessa snorted. She rolled her eyes and attempted to walk past the two men and through the door, but a strong hand grabbed her shoulder. A snarl rolled onto her lips. She spun, attempting a kick to whomever it was that dared touch her, but her foot met with the flat side of a sword. Then she was pushed onto the ground.

"That is why you're not fighting."

Tessa punched the floor and stood again, brushing the dirt from her pants, all the while giving Cloud the dirtiest look she could muster. "You do not want to fuck with me. I have brought down stronger men than you?"

"Like who?" taunted the blonde. "I've talked to Trepe. I know your history."

"I took down Squall Leonhart!" boasted the girl.

Fehn and the other boy just watched the back and forth, both wondering if a fight was going to break out. As one would later tell his friends with disappointment, no violence broke out. The two warriors just held their silence as the party made their way into the combat zone.

The humidity was the first thing to hit them. Cloud and the other males weren't bothered by it, but Tessa was. She hadn't done any training since her arrival to Trabia Garden.

"You're from Balamb Garden, right?" Fehn asked Tessa after a few minutes of wandering around without a sign of aggression. They had to rely on the monsters to attack, since the Grants blended in so well with the foliage.

"Why the fuck does it matter?" she snarled. Tifa had taken the opportunity to disappear, something that bothered Tessa. The ghost only disappeared when it was convenient for her. Walking through a humid war zone with the teenager in the environment that annoyed her most would usually be the perfect place for the apparition to throw barbs her way. Tessa almost found herself missing the ghost's company. Almost.

He offered nervous smile that she definitely did not return. "I was just wondering if you're familiar with Materia, since Balamb uses… _used_ GFs."

"Yes!" Tessa shouted angrily, causing the blonde boy to flinch and Cloud to growl softly. "I practically grew up in Ju…"

She was about to say "Junon." However, she stopped just short of it. It had been a practice of hers to try to ignore the memories of her childhood, good and bad. Nobody understood. Having your mind raped was the worst way to lose your innocence. Then again, she didn't know how many of her memories were fake, or if some had just been altered. What if some desperate employee had waited until there was nobody in the lab, or wherever the hell Shinra was keeping her the first time around, and then taken the opportunity to literally rape her. That thought was one of the worst she had, but what troubled her most wasn't what she remembered: it was what she didn't.

There was nothing between her memories of Lotia Garden and that first day at Balamb. All she remembered was riding the train to the island. How had she escaped, and what had she done in the time between the two events? Had she just gone straight from the company to the mercenary academy? If so, then what of Hunter? He had arrived at Balamb Garden about a month after Tessa, but the way Scarlet had talked it seemed as if they had escaped at the same time. Did he remember what she did not, but merely acted as though nothing were wrong, like she was doing? Perhaps he was just clueless. Then again, he had memories of life at Lotia after she had left. Had he escaped after her, or been sent after her like Jayne and Elena? She doubted it was possible that the flirt was a double agent. Most likely, someone had helped her escape, and then did the same for him before being found out.

That didn't explain how Fujin escaped, or why she denied being Alex. In fact, the grey-haired woman had gone to great lengths to avoid Tessa and Hunter at all costs. Whenever she saw one of them in the hall, she would turn and run in the opposite direction. Tessa didn't know if Hunter ever noticed.

"Grew up where?" Fehn asked curiously and completely unafraid. It definitely wasn't something that she wasn't used to. Most people cringed whenever they saw her. Her appearance and demeanour definitely set her apart. No that anyone gather up the courage to actually approach her. Hunter never did.

It seemed he had taken Tessa's warning to heart, because he never spoke to her. He didn't avoid her to the degree that Fujin did, though. He had actually settled in his behaviour quite a bit. He was still a flirt, but he had stopped trying to be Irvine Kinneas. The only person Tessa saw him trying to impress was that Aeris clone they had rescued from Junon. She wanted to laugh at the irony of it. (A/N: Do you get the irony? I would hope so.)

"Forget it," she sighed in defeat. "I learned how to use Materia a long time ago."

"That's cool."

"Would you ladies shut up?" Cloud called over his shoulder. "We're on a seek and destroy thing here."

"Fuck you!" Tessa shouted as she grabbed a handful of dirt from the ground and threw it at his back. "If I want to talk to the dumbass, then I will."

"I told you to shut the fuck up!" Cloud responded angrily as he pointed the tip of his sword at Tessa. She eyed it warily but didn't back down. "Follow orders, for Soa's sake."

"Hell no. Two things, Blondie," she said with just as much antagonism in her voice as he had. "Soa can go and fuck himself. Hyne, too. The only thing I believe in is myself. Second, you can't order me around. I'm not a part of the fucking Garden program anymore. You never were, in case you've forgotten. If you think that you can boss me around just because you've saved the world once or twice, you're wrong. No _man_ is going to tell me what to do. Ever."

Before either one could add anything else, the boy whose name neither one knew screamed in pain. Tessa turned around and saw that he had become surrounded by leafy green monsters with long roots that they used as whips. However, they were also spitting acid on him.

The three young people involved in the argument jumped into action. Fehn, who had a wooden staff, knocked away one of the Grats while Cloud hacked through the rest with absolute ease. Tessa knelt beside the wounded boy and looked him over. Some places had first and second degree burns, while skin and muscle had melted away and bone showed through in others. She cast Cure on him, but it wasn't working fast enough to counteract the acid. Why had they given her such pathetic Materia?

She used her hands to wipe away some of the corrosive acid, knowing the consequences and screaming the moment the skin on her hands began blistering.

"I could use some fucking help over here!" she screamed at the other two. Unfortunately, they were both locked in battle and couldn't get to her. Dozens of Grats began converging on the party at once. Tessa used Cure on her own hands and abandoned her charge as she dodged a whiplash from one of the plants. She grabbed a stick off the ground and threw it at one of the monsters as she shoved her foot into another.

A root hit her in the side and she grabbed it in pain momentarily before blocking it out and jamming an elbow into one of the Grats. While it was stunned, she tore one of the roots off and looped it around the monster's "neck." She stuck her foot on the back of its head and pulled back on the root, severing the skull from the body with surprising ease. It fell to the ground lifelessly and acid began leaking from the death wound. Some hit her boots, and the rubber soles began melting so she backed away. Two more monsters soon took its place.

Despite being severely outnumbered, she punched and kicked at the monsters with all her might. It seemed the month off had reduced her abilities more than she thought. There was a time, back at Balamb, when she could rip through three Grats with no trouble at all. Then again, she had been training with Aili, her best friend at the time.

One of them spat acid at her, but she dodged and it hit the earlier victim of an acid attack. She cursed as she realized that he was probably dead. Not even an hour in the Training Centre, and someone had died. Her curse continued.

"Fuck you!" she screamed at the monsters as her eyes began to glow. She opened her mouth and screamed again. Sonic waves flowed out, knocking over several of the monsters. A few escaped the attack, though. She was gearing up for another assault when she heard the blonde behind her groan.

Tessa turned around to see if he was, indeed, still alive. Unfortunately, he looked over at her and she couldn't even manage to scream. One of his eyes had melted away and she could see the pink of his brain matter. The other had somehow gone as red as her own eyes.

She finally found her voice. "No!"

---

"Help her…"

Cloud heard the voice and looked around as he decapitated a couple more of the nuisances. It was an insult for him to be doing battle with such pitiful monsters. He didn't see who had said it. The voice had been awfully familiar, though…

Then he heard the screaming. The girl he had saved in Junon and argued with just minutes before. She was surrounded by Grats, but so weren't he and the uninjured boy. Taking the advice of the disembodied voice, he forgot about wasting his time with monsters and just started hacking a path through them.

When he got there, he saw why she had screamed. It had nothing to do with the monsters. He doubted that even she would be completely overwhelmed by such weak foes. No, this was something much worse. The blonde boy had lost a good portion of his face to the acidic attacks. Cloud had avoided them by casting Protect and Shell on himself. What was so worrisome was the fact that the boy was stumbling around and trying to bite her. The first, last, and only time he had seen this phenomenon was when Rude had attacked Yuffie. The damn cowboy shot Rude and then attempted to do the same to the ninja, but Cloud wouldn't allow it. He didn't know why. Usually he wouldn't care, but that day…

"Kill it!" Tessa screamed as a bolt of Lightning leapt from her hand and hit the young man. He stopped momentarily, and Cloud took the opportunity to remove the top half of the boy's skull with one clean slice. Whoever he had been, the nameless fighter fell dead.

"I knew they gave me the shit," he grumbled as he kicked one Grat and impaled another with his sword.

Tessa didn't respond. After stabbing a couple of Grats, Cloud whirled around and saw her on the ground, staring at the body with wide, fearful eyes. It was almost like she had completely forgotten about what was going on. With a roll of his eyes, Cloud held his hand up and incinerated the monsters with the most powerful of Fire attacks. Not Flare, because he didn't have that Materia. The only Materia he had was what he had brought with him into Junon. The rest was locked away in a chest aboard the Highwind.

The other boy, the one who had introduced himself to Tessa as "Fehn," approached. He looked at his classmate sadly. "What happened?"

Words couldn't adequately explain what had happened unless Cloud were to give the kid the entire story of what happened in Junon, half of which he didn't even know.

"It seems your friend had that disease. He died, came back, and tried to get her," he explained with a gesture in Tessa's direction. "I want you to get her to the medical wing of this place, and then send someone after the body."

"What'll you do, Sir?" Fehn asked as he knelt next to Tessa, who still seemed unable to comprehend what was going on around her. "It's not safe to walk around by yourself. There were four of us, and you saw what happened."

Cloud frowned. It was true that monsters almost never attacked in such large swarms. The only ones that did were those scorpions in Sector Six back in Midgar. Before it was hit by Meteor, that is. There was something else driving them to behave the way they did. Something dangerous.

"Get out of here!" Cloud shouted as he stood with his sword. He remembered Xu telling him about just what lived in the Garden's Training Centre.

"Sir?"

"I said move your fucking ass!"

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A/N: What is going on? Tessa and Cloud still don't like each other. Then again, he killed her and she… well, anyone who read the first fic remembers what she did. Also, it appears that the animosity between our "heroine" and Xu is still alive and kicking.

I know I didn't address the Renea thing, but there are some clues in this chapter. It's just too early to get into that right now. However, who didn't enjoy Tessa and Cloud's argument? It just wouldn't be Tessa if there weren't a little chauvinism and a lot of cussing involved. So, as always, please review. Fics don't get continued if there aren't reviews! (Although, it seem like mine do.)


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 

A/N: For those of you who like my comedic side, in addition to TCBT, I now have a _Ranma ½_ fic in the Manga section. It's a big deal for me, as it's my first fic that doesn't involve videogames. (I know I talked about a W&G oneshot, but that kind of fizzled.)

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The world was heavy. Tessa woke up without the feeling of relief that accompanied sleep, and the pain of being knocked out was also noticeable absent. "What the fuck happened?"

"You mean, you don't remember?"

She screamed at the sound of the voice. Chills ran down her spine. Her eyes flew open and she screamed again. There was a flash of blonde hair and a familiar sneer before Tessa lashed out. Her fist connected with soft flesh and a very different voice gave a cry of pain.

"Ow! Why did you hit me?" the guitar player, Fehn, wheezed from behind his hands as he held his nose.

"You… you're not…" the confused teen muttered. She took a second to look at her surroundings. It was a standard issue common room for the Garden's double dorms. There were touches of individualism throughout, though. A poster of some rock star was hung on one wall, and there were old music magazines scattered on a nearby table. Tessa sat up and found herself sitting on a rather bumpy sofa. "Where the fuck am I?"

"You're in my room," Fehn answered as he sat moved some magazines to the side with one hand while staring at the other as he sat on the table. "Thank Hyne I'm not bleeding."

An image, a vision, a memory of waking up in a strange man's bed flashed before her eyes. "What the fuck happened?"

"You mean before you hit me?" the boy asked as he tenderly touched his nose.

"Yes," she hissed as she leaned forward and grabbed his shirt. She pulled their faces so close that they were almost touching. "What. The. Fuck. Happened?"

Fehn took a deep breath after he was released. "Umm, we were in the Training Centre with Cloud Strife and Allar."

"Who the hell is Allar?" Tessa asked as she scratched at a dry patch of skin on her scalp.

"He was a classmate of mine."

"So the dumbass got himself killed, huh?" She laughed briefly while Fehn avoided her eyed. "Somehow, I'm not surprised. You Trabia types don't seem too bright."

The young man cleared his throat before continuing. "We were ambushed by a bunch of Grats. They surrounded Allar and covered him with acid. Mr. Strife and I fought them while you tended to Allar, but…"

"But what?" interrupted the angry girl. "Let me guess: some dumbass did something stupid and now your boyfriend is dead? Fuck this. I'm out of here."

She stood up and walked to the exit on unsteady feet. Her energy seemed gone, sapped.

"He became one of them," Fehn added quietly.

Tessa stopped with her hand on the doorknob. She turned her head to regard her conversation partner. "What, exactly, do you mean by 'them'?"

"I once heard someone use the word 'Rot."

_A man a few years older than Tessa punched at another man, this one with greying and rotting skin. The first man missed, and the second bit into him, eliciting a scream…_

"You fucking liar!" Tessa whispered before collapsing.

---

"Will she be okay, Doctor?" Quistis asked as she looked the unconscious form of her former student. Something had happened in the Training Centre. She'd told Xu not to let Tessa participate, despite the fact that she knew the vivacious young woman would jump at the chance. Anything to prove that she was better than everybody else.

Dr. Welsh shook her head with a sigh. Strands of long red hair broke free from their ponytail and fell into her face. It was the same hue as Tessa's had been before Junon, before the kidnapping. The Instructor still didn't know what had happened. If any of the other survivors knew, they weren't saying anything.

"She'll be fine physically, but it had to have been a shock," the older woman answered.

"What?"

A student of hers named Fehn had run through the halls shouting for help when Tessa collapsed in his room. Quistis knew that something bad had to have happened in the Training Centre. Why wasn't anyone telling her anything?

"One of those _things_ attacked her," a male voice commented. A hand reached out from behind a nearby curtain, pulling the fabric away to reveal its owner as Cloud. He had his shirt off and several bandages covered his body. "Some stupid kid let himself get separated from the group, and the monsters overwhelmed him, killed him. We were fighting off when he became a… what are they called?"

"Antessence always called them Rots," Quistis told him before turning back to Dr. Welsh. "Is that what you're talking about? She wasn't bitten, was she?"

The doctor assured Quistis that Tessa was fine. She said that the girl had passed out from dehydration. "It's especially dangerous in her condition, too," she added as an afterthought.

"Condition?"

"The dumb bitch probably got herself knocked up. That's what doctors always mean when they talk about conditions," Cloud laughed. Then he grabbed his ribs as a pained look flashed across his face.

"She not pregnant," Quistis said confidently. "Antessence would never do something like that."

"I guess you don't know her that well," Dr. Welsh said softly.

Cloud was the first to react. "You mean that she's actually pregnant?"

"No way…" Quistis looked at the young girl and remembered how intimately she had acted with Adette, another student: a _female_ student. It simply wasn't logical. She'd even seen Hunter after Tessa beat him up on their first night at Trabia Garden. He didn't admit it, but Quistis knew.

Why had she been the one called to deal with this? She wasn't especially close to Tessa. Sure, the girl had been a Trepe at one time. That didn't mean that they were friends. In fact, Tessa was the only Trepe that Quistis could even remember by name. They were just a bunch of faceless students that go together to admire her, each for reasons different from the last.

"How far along is she?" Quistis asked. It just didn't seem possible that the angry young girl with voluntarily sleep with a man. Not after all of the anti-male rants that she had been forced to endure over the girl's tenure at Balamb Garden.

"About a month. Is there something significant about that?"

Cloud caught their attention by standing up with a series of grunts. "Yeah, there's significance. We got here about a month ago. There isn't a man in this building that's desperate enough to actually sleep with her, so…"

"You're saying she was raped?" Quistis gasped in horror as she buried her face in her hands. Dr. Welsh, meanwhile, forced Cloud to get back into the bed with threats of physical torture. He just scowled.

"Who's going to get the lucky job of telling her?" Cloud asked. "I would be happy to do it, but something tells me that you want it to be one of those touchy-feely things that you chicks like to do."

Dr. Welsh glared at him angrily. "Be quiet! I will not have you insulting one of my patients!"

"Lady," Cloud rolled his eyes, "I'm not the only one insulting her. Didn't Trepe here just say that the only way the girl would laid was if someone raped her? And to think that people call _me_ cold. I never said that someone was that pathetic."

"Shut up!" Quistis screamed.

"Would you fuckers keep it down," Tessa mumbled quietly as she shifted in the bed. "I'm trying to get some sleep, you asses."

"See?" Cloud pointed at Tessa. "Now who the hell would want that?"

---

"Who is asleep this late in the afternoon?"

Tessa groaned and rolled over. When she opened her eyes, there was a smile so big and radiant that she felt like vomiting. That was the thing that she wanted to see least. That, and what she saw the last time she woke up…

"Go the fuck away."

With a merry laugh, Tifa sat in the vacant chair and stared at Tessa happily. The bitter teen returned the look with one of her own in the complete opposite manner.

"Why are you wearing that shit-eating grin, you stupid bitch?" she grumbled angrily. It didn't affect Tifa's cheery mood one bit.

Tifa lessened her smile just enough to speak. "He misses me."

"What?"

"Cloud misses me. I heard him call my name in his sleep."

The living member of the conversation snorted rather rudely. Then she shook her head and laughed. "He wasn't missing you. The moron was probably having the same dream about you that I always do. In mine, I stab you repeatedly with many sharp objects. Gallons of blood pour from your wounds as you howl in pain… wait, why were watching him sleep? Are you some sort of voyeur? Does watching people at their most vulnerable turn you on or something? Well, that does explain the black leather."

"Not even you can get me down right now, Mommy."

She was about to give what she believed to be a witty response, but Tessa quickly latched onto Tifa's last word. "What?"

Tifa nodded and leaned forward. "You didn't hear it from me, though."

"You're a fucking liar. I'm not pregnant. The doctors that I was sterile after the…" she started to say before remembering the image of her violation being plastered across the "screen" when she was held in Junon.

"The rape? Not so sure it happened." The brawler stood up and stretched. "If what I learned when I died, which wasn't much, is true, then the only thing that happened to you when you were being raised by Shinra was the whole Mako exposure and T-Virus injection thing. It's a bit of a surprise that they didn't find that in your bloodstream when they were examining you. Then again, news that the bald psycho lesbian being pregnant might have been a bit of a distraction."

"Bitch," Tessa muttered quietly. The teen had no idea of how it could have happened. "When did I? Who did I?"

"Fuck?" Tifa offered. She let her grin falter for a moment when Tessa glared at her. "Hey, I'm just trying to put it in words that you might understand. I doubt that you would call it 'making love'."

With a rare show of insecurity, Tessa drew her knees up to her chin like a child would. She felt like a child would, lost and alone. There was nobody she could think to confide in. the person from her pre-Junon life that she was on even remotely good terms with was Quistis, seeing as how she utterly despised the other two. Xu wasn't a very big fan of Tessa's either, and Hunter seemed to have found a new girl to harass.

"I want an abortion."

This time, Tifa did lose her goofy grin entirely. "What? You can't do that. It's murder!"

A silver eyebrow rose rather high on Tessa's forehead. "Murder. Like you're one to talk. Besides, it's like it's a baby or anything. I'm just carrying an embryo. Women should have the right to decide what to do with their bodies, and I choose to have an abortion. It's as simple as that."

"How can you be so calm and thoughtless? You're killing a child. Soa forbids it," argued the ghost.

Tessa shook her head and laughed. "Soa? Fuck him. You seem to forget that I'm not exactly the religious type. That whole argument won't sway me. Besides, it's just an abortion."

"Just an abortion?" Tifa sounded appalled. "I'm starting to wonder just why the hell I'm haunting you."

"I've been doing that very thing for about a month now."

---

Quistis and Xu looked at the paternity results in shock. Neither of them cared about the ethical implications. Those concerns had gone out the window the day that Trabia Garden realized just what was going on in the world. Now, it was a case of the Garden's shadow council needing to know just what was going on in the military academy.

"Are you sure this is correct?" Xu asked Dr. Welsh. "Could you run it again?"

The older woman shook her head. "I already ran it through twice. He doesn't know yet. That's why I showed you two. Should I tell him or not?" She seemed confused as to just what the results might cause the determined father.

"No way," Xu said with shaking hands. "This would ruin his life. That girl is poison. I should have known that something like this would end up happening when I found her at his apartment. Why couldn't she have just died in Galbadia City? It would have saved us a lot of trouble."

"Xu!" Quistis shouted in shock. "I know that you and Antessence are not fond of each other…"

"Hate isn't strong enough of a word," Xu interrupted.

"Even so…" Dr. Welsh regained the women's attention. "I'm still at a loss of what to do. We're not set up for the delivery and care of an infant. In addition to that, there is no way that we'd be able to meet the dietary needs that the girl would have to keep from miscarrying. Despite how quickly she healed after arriving here, she is still quite young. It would be difficult for her to carry it to full term.

"Dr. Welsh, couldn't you just 'accidentally' give her an overdose of something? Then neither she nor the baby would be a problem."

This time, Quistis couldn't find words to show her surprise. Xu wasn't acting like the girl that she had grown up with, saved the world with.

"Xu…" Dr. Welsh's tone indicated that she didn't take too kindly to the brunette's suggestion of murder.

"I'm not saying that we should actually do it. Shit, this going to be a headache."

There was a knock at the door to Xu's room, where the three were meeting. Quistis stood and answered it. When she saw who it was, the ability to speak seemed to leap out of her head.

"Is Xu in? I need to ask her about possible ways to reserve the fuel supply."

"Nida, is that you?" Dr. Welsh called at the sound of his voice. "Please, come in."

He did so, and laughed when he realized who all was there. "Are having another meeting? Do you want me to page Matron down here, too?" Someone told him to sit down, so he did.

"Nida, this may come as a bit of a surprise," the doctor began, eyeing Xu to make sure that she didn't interrupt. Quistis just stood by the door, unable to bring herself to sit.

"What 's going on? Did you girls get me a stripper or something for my birthday, because that was two months ago."

Xu shook her head and glared at Dr. Welsh, but said nothing.

"Young man, this isn't easy, but you're going to be…"

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A/N: Aargh! What an evil place to end! That's what you're thinking, right? Well, anyone who read the first story already knew that Nida was the daddy.

Something is starting to worry me, though. This fic isn't going in the same direction as its predecessor, that's for sure, but it's headed where I had intended. This chapter was almost comical with all of the back and forth between the different characters. Meh, maybe you need to get high in order to get really low. As always, review!


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

A/N: You're all probably wondering what happened to everyone's favourite blonde bitch. Well, the one that's still alive. Well, fans who have waited patiently through the melodrama, you're going to find out. Is she still alive? What is with the blue Materia? Is she really a Sorceress, and, if so, how did she inherit the powers?

I should probably tell you now, though, that Odine's accent will not be written for reasons that will be explained somewhere in this chapter.

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"She is ready for another round of testing."

A short man wearing a violet lab coat with a flamboyant orange and yellow collar that rose almost as high as his bizarre hairstyle, which consisted of all his hair being pulled into a ponytail that rose straight up into the air, began punching buttons and turning knobs on a panel.

The screen before him roared to life with the image of a woman with blonde hair wearing a sequined red cocktail dress. Her head hung to the left lifelessly, like a doll, and she was incredibly thin. Emaciated was a better word for it. The dress hung low on her thin frame, skin hanging over horribly protruding bones. Between her sagging breasts hung a necklace with a jewel the size of a fist: it was aqua with a cut that seemed to catch every drop of light in the room in which she was confined.

"Are you sure, sir?" one of his subordinates, an intolerable man named Manchester, asked with a touch of sympathy that annoyed the scientist. "She hasn't been fed this week. Perhaps she should be given some food…"

"Bah!" he exclaimed as he threw his hands up. "She gets the nourishment she needs through the IV. The specimen will be fed when she does what she is told. Now wake her."

Manchester looked the screen over, a look of surprise on his face. "Dr. Odine, the specimen _is_ conscious. Her heart rate and brain waves clearly show that."

"Interesting," the little man drawled as he used one analog stick to zoom in on the picture of the woman. "So she is attempting to play us for fools? We mustn't allow that. Manchester, turn it up to eighty volts."

"Eighty? But that'll…"

Odine waved him off. "She will be fine. She has survived far worse."

"Doctor," another aide, this one whose name Odine did not know, pointed at the screen. "Is she speaking?"

The camera zoomed even closer on the woman so that only her lips were visible. Indeed, her lips were moving, if barely. Odine ordered the microphones in the room to be turned up. Hidden speakers crackled to life, and a hushed voice whispered one sentence over and over: "Come to me, my Knight."

"A Sorceress's Knight?" Manchester's face scrunched up in thought. "What is that?"

Again, Odine threw his hands up in frustration. "You fool! Why did Rufus saddle me with such incompetence? The Knight is the man sworn to serve at a Sorceress's right hand. He is her protector."

The other man bowed apologetically. "Forgive me. It is just that I am not accustomed to the legends of Hyne's descendants."

"Yes, we are in the land of Soa. That is why it is important to study Hyne. The two are more important to each other than either side knows."

"Is that why the Sorceress is the key to unlocking the Millen Dragon?"

He was given no answer beyond a dirty look. Manchester looked away and cranked a dial. The sound of electricity crackling filled the screen, and Scarlet jerked up to look at the camera that was focused on her. She began screaming, decibels rising with the voltage.

"It is a show. She hopes that we will stop," Odine said nonchalantly at the looks on his aides' faces. "We must not, though. Not until we have the key!"

Manchester looked to the other assistant. "Didn't he just say that she was the key?"

The short doctor pushed the other two men out of his way and began cranking the electricity running through Scarlet's body even higher.

"We must receive every drop of power that we need! The seals must be broken!" Odine screamed violently. Manchester and his colleague backed away. They'd never seen the old man so out of control. Sure, he was a little nutty, but he'd never seemed so crazy, so dangerous.

Scarlet's screams grew even louder as electrical bolts began to surround her body. They were not from the jolts that Scarlet was receiving. It was doubtful that even felt them anymore. Manchester's eyes widened as he began to realize what had happened. "Her powers! He's awakened her Sorceress powers."

Odine continued to laugh and turn the dial higher and higher. He had finally achieved success. The doctor was going to take advantage of the opportunity.

"Stop!" Manchester screamed as he lunged at Odine. "She'll blow up all up!"

The two men crashed to the floor and began wrestling. Meanwhile, the dial began spinning of its own accord until it reached the maximum position.

Already panicking, the third man ran to the thick security door and swiped his ID card before pressing "4758", the four digit access code. When the door opened, he was thrown back by a powerful force. That force had long red hair.

"What's up, Doc?" Reno giggled as he looked from the screen of Scarlet screaming, to Odine and Manchester looking up at him from the floor, and settling his eyes on the man below him holding his nose. "You know you can't have a party without me."

"You have to shut the machine off!" Manchester cried as he pointed to the device that Odine had been using to carry out his madness. With a nod, Reno reached into his pocket, produced a Materia, and blew the machine up into little chunks of metal with a small fireball.

"Now," Reno picked up the man at his feet and dusted him off, "would you please explain to me just why you're torturing my Sorceress."

"Your…" Odine mouthed the second. He couldn't believe what was going through his mind.

A nod from the redhead was all the confirmation the scientists needed. Manchester and Odine began climbing over each other in search of an escape. Reno threw the other man into the wall, and then pulled out his Mag-Rod. (A/N: Yes, I know I said it was a riding crop in the other story. Forgive my stupidity. I have no idea what I was thinking.) He kicked Odine in the face. The old man was launched onto a console, flying through the air like a doll.

Manchester reached into his lab coat and produced a gun. Bullets, faster than sound, tore at Reno. He easily dodged them and smacked the scientist with the rod. With a cry of pain, Manchester grabbed his side where he had been hit.

Red lights began flashing and an alarm blared. Reno looked around and saw that Odine had been the one to activate the alarm. "I would have let you die quickly, but now you're not getting that luxury, old man."

Fingers were crushed as the Mag-Rod smashed Odine's hand. Reno grabbed his arm and put his foot to the old man's neck. Then, with skill that only a Turk would know, he used the leverage his foot provided to twist and break the arm in his grasp. Pleas accompanied the doctor's cries, but Reno would have none of it. Blow after blow rained down on his frail body. It was almost as if the assassin were intent on breaking every bone in the aged body.

"You're killing him," Manchester cried as another volley of bullets was launched at Reno. The redhead swung Odine around and used him as a shield. Blood poured from the wounds as the withered old man jerked involuntarily. Reno flung him aside and the Materia reappeared. He pointed it at Manchester and grinned.

"Bang. Bang."

Flames filled the room, touching everything except Reno. Manchester, Odine, and the unnamed man all evaporated into ash. Metal melted, paper burned, and the screen depicting Scarlet exploded, showering the flames with sparks of its own.

When he finished, the walls, floor, and ceiling were as black as Reno's shoes. The Turk walked out the door, which had melted. Greeting him were twelve Shinra grunts, on either side of the hall, weapons trained on him.

"Stop! We are here to take you into custody on charges of murder and destruction!" the bravest of the men cried in a shaky voice. They all knew what he was capable of.

"Gee, you think that with all of the murders I already committed and places that I've destroyed, I'd already have been a wanted man," Reno laughed as he returned the Materia to his pocket. He rested his Mag-Rod on his shoulder and spun around to gauge his odds. When nobody moved, he grinned again. "What? Did you change your minds?"

"Get him!"

The dozen men charged at once. Reno jumped into the air and kicked one on his way down. Another fell victim to his rod. Bullets began being fired. The Turk fell to the floor, swept his leg out, and knocked the shooter known with him. As the other man fell, his finger still on the trigger, bullets tore into his comrades. Men, some with wives children, grabbed at the holes in their bodies before falling lifelessly to the floor.

Reno resurfaced and brought a foot into another man's chest. The sound of breaking bones made him happy.

"You won't get away," the last man huffed. He looked around and saw that his comrades were either dead or unconscious before training his own automatic rifle on Reno.

"I'm not leaving yet," Reno laughed. The man pulled the trigger just as Reno moved.

---

Rufus Shinra heard the noise and ignored it. He was safe. There were two members of SOLDIER outside of his door, and two more in his office. Whoever it was that dared attack his base would never get to him.

"Sir!" One of the men in the violet garb that made up the uniform of SOLDIER looked at the president as he readjusted his earbud. "They have identified the aggressor."

The blonde man calmly played with a pen on his desktop.

"Sir?"

"I'm waiting," Rufus barked impatiently. "Is it those fools from AVALANCHE again? Is it SeeD?"

Both warriors looked at each other before turning to Rufus. The one who had yet to speak delivered the news. "Mr. President, it appears that Reno of the Turks has turned on us. He's already killed Odine and two other scientists. There are also several of the Shinra guard that are dead or in critical condition."

"So…" Rufus rolled away from his desk, used a lever on his wheelchair to turn the contraption around, and looked out the window at the plains. The ground was littered with thousands of inanimate bodies, undead blindly searching for food. With its firepower, Shinra had managed to protect itself from the disaster it had unleashed upon the world. He just wondered if that would be enough this time. "She has her knight."

---

The door exploded and Scarlet was showered with bits of hot metal that dug into her skin.

"You don't look so good," Reno quipped as he kicked the last of the door out of his way. "Are you sure you're eating right?"

"Just do something!" Scarlet spat with strength that she didn't know she had. Reno used his Materia to melt her bonds. The frail body of the Sorceress fell into his arms. She pathetically clawed at the necklace around her neck, and Reno ripped it off for her. It fell to the ground and he kicked it under some of the rubble.

"All right, that's taken care of. Now how do you propose we get out of here?"

"Leave that to me," Scarlet smirked as she waved one of her hands. A bolt of lightning hit the building and they were gone.

---

After they had cleared away the devastation and put down the reanimated dead, the guard stood at attention as Rufus was rolled into the room that Scarlet had been held captive in. He didn't look angry or even annoyed.

"Where is it?" he asked. One the men approached him and held a glittering piece of jewellery. It was quickly snatched away. Rufus put the necklace around his own neck, tucking the bluestone into his shirt. "Very well then, Xelos. Tell those fools in historical research to hurry up. I want to know where the first seal is."

The man in the dark blue suit nodded and walked away. Rufus just fingered the Materia through the fabric as he rolled out of the room and turned in the direction opposite of the newest Turk.

---

_A woman with dark brown hair walked down a passage lit by torches. On all sides of her men and women launches fireballs and healed one another's wounds. In her arms, she carried a book, clutching it as though her life depended on it. The book was clearly old, practically falling apart._

"_Are you ready for the trial?" a man in white robes asked her. She nodded and handed him the manuscript. A door appeared in the wall where rock had been just moments before. "May you succeed and end the scourge once and for all."_

_She smiled nervously and opened the portal, walking into darkness. Screams were issued as soon as it closed behind her, and the man hung his head._

"_It seems we overestimated her," he said to the air. "Perhaps…"_

Before she could find out what he said, Quistis bolted upright in bed. Cold sweat and goosebumps covered her body. For weeks, ever since her arrival at Trabia, she had dreamt the same dream.

The sheets protested as the Instructor drew them up over her head. She curled into a ball and shook. Who was the girl, and why did she seem so familiar? Why did the book look so familiar? What was the scourge?

All of those questions and more attacked her brain as she tried in vain to go back to sleep.

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A/N: This chapter took forever to write, and it's just weird. At least you got some action. Reno's hilarious one-liners: you can't leave those out. Am I forgetting to mention anything? Oh, right, the ending.

Yeah, it's short and weak, but definitely clichéd. It's going to lead to an awesome plot twist. Don't worry about that. The next chapter will bring you the continuing adventures of your favourite bald bitch, though. Anyway, don't forget to leave a review! Also, someone from this fic got a very special cameo in chapter 13 of TCBT. Cookies to who can tell me who it is. (It's not that hard to figure out if you actually read the thing.)


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

A/N: Sorry about the long time between updates. Writer's block sucks, especially when it's hitting you on all of your major projects.

On a more positive note, I'm reinvigorated in my love of writing, and am now the actual owner of the Final Fantasies from the PS One era. (VII, VIII, and IX.) Before they were my brothers, but now they're mine. Go me. The idiot sold them for thirty bucks. Meh, it's his loss.

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Tessa was sitting on a bench outside of the library. She was embroiled in a rather bitter argument with Tifa concerning her "condition." Dr. Welsh had indeed informed the teenager that she was pregnant, but when Tessa immediately requested an abortion, the physician refused.

"There is no way she won't do it because of the lack of equipment. It's not very invasive actually. They can just pull the fucking fetus out piece by piece for all I care," Tessa, obviously, told her brunette spectre. "This is some of their moralized bullshit about women not having a say in how they treat their own bodies. You know what this reminds me of? That fucking rule that says SeeDs and SeeD candidates can't smoke while engaged in a mission. Like a cigarette is going to give anyone away. If anything, it would probably just make you blend in even more in urban areas."

"Craving a cigarette, are we?" Tifa laughed as she swung her legs from her nearby perch on a trashcan. A crumpled up ball of paper through her right leg, and the ghost looked at it sadly. "I hope I never get used to that."

A crash met Tifa's words as the young woman stood up and kicked the can over. Tifa just vanished and reappeared by Tessa's seat on the bench. Ignoring the dirty looks of the people around her, Tessa sat back down and eyed the dead martial artist.

"Why won't you go away? You are so fucking annoying."

"Fuck you, too!" One of the students yelled angrily, believing that Tessa had spoken to him. She gave him the finger and turned to Tifa.

"Where do you go when you're not bugging the hell out of me? Dead people are supposed to move on into the great beyond or some such shit, right? I'm not saying that I believe you're real. Odds still are that I'm crazy. It's just something that I've been curious about for awhile."

Tifa leaned forward and dropped her voice for dramatic effect. "Do you remember that place you went to when you died in Junon?"

"The hallucination caused by the blood loss? Sure."

"Whatever," Tifa rolled her eyes. "That field of flowers with the waterfall is known as the Farplane. It's a common location in the legends of Hyne. Some even said that that's where the other half of her body lies. If you go there and find it, your greatest wishes may be granted. Of course, only the living can do this, but there's no way for them to get there."

A snort escaped Tessa's lips as she shot down the tale as religious bullshit. "The only thing you can rely on is science."

They then began an argument on the merits of faith and knowledge. After about ten minutes and dozens of bewildered looks from people passing by, Tifa cleared her throat and pointed at something behind Tessa. "Isn't that him?"

"Who?" Tessa growled as she turned around and saw a man she barely recognized walking in her direction. There a memory of him floating around in her mind, but it was clouded by time and other factors that she would never admit to.

When he reached her, the man, who was dressed in a SeeD uniform, played with something behind his back while clearly struggling to speak. The few people that had been around looked at the local hero as he attempted to converse with the girl they believed to be a villain.

"Are you Antessence Matleo?" he asked with a shaky voice.

She eyed him evilly for several seconds, but Tessa eventually nodded. The girl also crossed her arms over her chest to appear more intimidating. It was a gesture of little effect on the man addressing her, as he was already as nervous as he could possibly be.

When he dropped to his knee, a silver eyebrow rose on Tessa's forehead. A rare moment of silence caught her throat as he brought his hands around front. A ring was grasped in one of them.

"Will you marry me?"

"Yes! Do it!" Tifa screamed. "When else are you going to get an opportunity this good? Besides, he's cute."

Several seconds passed before Tessa responded. She laughed in his face before placing a foot on his chest and knocking him onto his behind. The young man was completely bewildered.

"Did I do something wrong?" he asked himself.

"Who the hell are you?" Tessa asked between laughing fits. "Tell me why I would even bother having a nightmare about you when you are so clearly a waste of thought."

An insulted mask crept onto his face as her words registered. "I'm Nida."

"Congratulations, now go fuck yourself." Without a second thought, Tessa turned back to Tifa. She really didn't care what people thought of her anymore. "As for you: shut the hell up already."

A bystander in the general direction that the bald girl was facing claimed that he hadn't said anything.

"Excuse me," Nida said as he grabbed Tessa's arm. She screamed in rage and swung her fist around. It connected with his face, and he grabbed his eye out of reflex. "What in Hyne's name is wrong with you?"

More laughter followed as Tessa informed the pilot that she didn't give a damn about Hyne's name. "Listen up, Jackass. People don't touch me unless they want to get hurt. Now go away before I really get angry."

"But I'm the father!" he cried desperately. Tessa's pale face grew even whiter as she looked at him with a touch of fear in her eyes. This of all things was what finally started the conjecturing in the crowd.

"What are you the father of?"

"Your… Our baby," Nida said as he stood and held his hand out for Tessa, palm flat and the ring laying in the middle of it. "Please. Don't make this hard."

Tifa vainly tried to warn him to stop, but he didn't since he couldn't hear her. Tessa then stood up and took the ring from his hand. His smiled hopefully as she looked it over.

"Do you really expect me to say yes?" Tessa inquired as she looked over the golden band. "Do you really think I would marry a complete stranger just because he knocked me up after one drunken night of random fucking?"

"Um, I was kind of hoping that you might," he answered uncomfortably. "This wasn't how I planned on starting a family, but I want to be a father to my baby boy or girl."

"Too bad," she said as she threw the ring over the little wall and into the water below. "I don't plan on being a mother. You can play daddy all you want when you go through nine months of hell just to experience intense pain from having complete strangers reaching into your vagina and stretching it so that a loud little piece of shit can scream in your ears for the rest of your life."

With that, she walked off in the directions of the dorms while Nida wondered why he had used his late grandmother's wedding ring for the proposal.

---

"You are ready?" Hunter asked as he led Eisis through a door, his hands over her eyes. They were both giggling, the girl more so.

Few people found reasons to be happy anymore. The fact that two people who found a reason to smile was a miracle. There wasn't much for the survivors to look forward to. Every day was filled with more drudgery and another tale of death. For Hunter and Eisis, though, it was a day to celebrate.

"You've been keeping this a secret from me this long," she laughed uncharacteristically. Even with an environment that she found more and more familiar, the girl was still withdrawn and silent around most people. She felt different around the boy with ghostly hair. "You'd better show me before I rip your hands off."

One by one, he lifted his fingers from her face before removing his hands altogether. The smile on her face vanished for a shadow of a moment. After the shock wore off, it returned with a vengeance.

She looked at the room before turning around and hugging him close. He closed his eyes and put his hands on her back awkwardly, inhaling her scent.

"You did all by yourself?" she asked with tears in her eyes as she pulled away and walked up to a crude wooden carving of a dragon.

"I was assisted by a few of the men and women from the cleaning crew." Admitting it was something that he really didn't want to do, but the young man had to consider where he was. "Most refused. I can admit that I blame them not. Never would I help in the building of a shrine to Hyne."

"Why not?" Eisis asked as she sat and looked up at the statue.

He didn't answer, instead choosing to look away and point at the small plant meant to represent the tree of life.

"Is not it amazing that something simple is also complex? Many here will never understand the importance of…"

Eisis was about to interrupt him and ask why he hadn't answered her first question, but someone else derailed his train of thought.

"What the fuck is this? I thought I'd escaped all of this damn religious bullshit!"

The teenagers turned around and saw Tessa standing in the doorway, cigarette dangling from her mouth and a lighter in her hand. It never occurred to them to ask her where she got the latter item. They were more concerned with the person than the contraband. (The policy never really worked anyway, since many of the students and/or SeeDs who smoked just used magic as a light.)

"Gee, it figures that it was the work of you two mother fuckers. There just aren't any breaks for this bitch, are there?" she asked sarcastically as a flame appeared in her hand. She dipped her head enough to introduce the tip of her cigarette to the small fire. After a few drags, there was a flare and a plume of smoke rose into the air as Tessa blissfully closed her eyes. "Then again, someone truly out of luck wouldn't be able to get a light out of this thing. Life really doesn't hate me. It's a shame I can't say the same about myself concerning you."

Fighting her instinct to shuffle behind Hunter and let him argue with the bald bomb, Eisis took a step forward. She told Tessa to leave. Her voice trembled heavily as she spoke. "Put out that cigarette. This is a holy place."

Tessa laughed rudely as she flicked the ashes off the end of her cigarette and onto the floor. She took two steps in the other girls direction, and Eisis did duck behind Hunter. He wondered why his friend had to antagonize her. His childhood acquaintance was always unpredictable.

"Holy place?" Tessa snorted. "I don't believe in anything 'holy.' This is just a balcony that's been screened in and insulated. Rather shitty job of it, too. Besides, where am I supposed to put out my cigarette? Your forehead? It would make a nice little mark. If anyone asked, you could just tell them Hunter here gave you a hicky that went bad. Unless you want me to take credit for it. I'm a dyke after all. Things could get nice and rough if you wanted. My tongue is good for things other than chewing out asses. Unless you're into that."

Having had enough, Hunter finally stood up for Eisis. "That is enough, Antessence. I must insist that you leave, or at least cease in your debauched behaviour while in our temple."

There was a hiss as Tessa put her cigarette out on the statue, leaving a charred black mark on the dragon's face. "See? No more 'debauched behaviour.' Are you happy? Now I can't have my nicotine fix, which makes me very bitchy."

"How can you tell?" Eisis muttered under her breath.

Obviously, she wasn't quiet enough, because Tessa heard her. The expectant mother walked up to the girl, easily pushing Hunter out of her way. He crashed into the plant, knocking it over and crushing it under his own weight.

"Did you just grow a backbone? That's too fucking bad. We'd have gooten along a lot better if you'd just kept your damn mouth shut. You see, I'm not in the best of moods today. Some dumbass really pissed me off. All I wanted was a smoke and to be left alone. Is that too difficult a concept for your pea-sized brain to comprehend?"

"Antessence!" Hunter cried as he climbed to his feet. He put a hand on Tessa's shoulder and pushed her back. "Leave her alone!"

Rather than act shocked, the offended warrior leapt right into rage, grabbing his arm and pulling him forward so that his face collided with her elbow. He was holding his bleeding mouth when she let him go.

"Didn't I warn you not to fuck with me?" she screamed. Spit flew from her mouth as she ranted. "You do not touch me, Hunter! You never touch me!"

He didn't speak. Not that it mattered to Tessa.

"I warned you. Don't say I didn't."

Tessa kicked him in the stomach. While he doubled over, she swept his legs out from under him and he fell onto his face. She sat on his back, using her knees to pin his arms to the floor. A handful of his pale hair made its way into her left hand as the lighter reappeared in her right. Eisis was too frightened to even scream.

"Tell me, can a copy really feel pain?" Tessa asked as she set the lighter ablaze and held it dangerously close to Hunter's face. "Do we feel it for real, or is it all in our heads? It's not like we can remember pain. Your body being torn in half, your soul shredded, none of it is real. So, tell me, does it hurt?"

"You talk nonsense!" Hunter cried as the flame passed slowly under his jaw, singing the peach fuzz that most men his age considered a five o'clock shadow. Sweat popped out on his forehead related to, but not caused by, the fire pressed against his skin. "Cease, I implore you!"

An insane laugh was his only answer as Tessa let his face burn. She twisted his hair, soaking up his cries and revelling in his pain. It felt so good to not be on the receiving end of it for once in her life. The feeling of control was intoxicating.

"What are you doing?" a fourth voice shouted.

Tessa looked up, directly in Tifa's eyes. Her fingers relaxed and the lighter clattered on the tarmac. She released Hunter and stood up before turning her head and looking at Eisis. There was actual fear in the girl's eyes. No the wishy-washy kind that most got around her. The Aeris clone looked as though she actually feared for her life.

"I-I don't know anymore," Tessa muttered as she looked from Hunter, on the ground catching his breath and wiping tears from his eyes, to Tifa before covering her eyes. "What am I doing?"

"You're me now, you little cunt."

The voice was faint, but Tessa heard it. She looked around but couldn't see another apparition.

"Did you hear that?" she asked Tifa.

"What?" the martial artist asked in a confused voice. "I didn't hear anything other than this poor boy you just tortured. Are you crazy?"

Indeed, Tessa thought that she might be losing it. She had always found a release in hurting Hunter. Never pleasure, though. Especially when it was unprovoked. It almost like she wasn't herself. She was almost acting like…

"No. No. NO!" she screamed before running out of the room.

Tifa cast a glance at Eisis before vanishing after Tessa.

After a few more minutes, Hunter sat up and gingerly touched his injured chin. Eisis looked at him with apologetic eyes before offering him a shoulder to lean on.

"Let's go to Dr. Welsh," she offered quietly. "Then we'll report her."

"What good will it do?" Hunter asked slowly, each word sending a spasm of pain through his face. "That wasn't Antessence."

She didn't say anything else, but Hunter knew what was on her mind. If it wasn't the angry young woman he grew up with, then who was it that had just attacked him? The problem was that he didn't know.

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A/N: Thus begins Tessa's fall from grace. (If you could call it that. She never was the most moral character in this universe.) really, this was not how I had planned this chapter at all. Then again, the first story wasn't what I'd planned either. There must just be something about these characters that makes it impossible to map out a future.

Anyway, in the next chapter, Quistis does some research on her dream, Tessa confronts some ghosts (literally and metaphorically), and we find out just what Fujin has been up to in the month since the finale of _Resurrection_.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

A/N: Things have really slowed down creatively with _Redemption_ and TLoD, my Ranma ½ fic. TCBT is just so much easier to write. Must be the fact that it's pure escapism. Anyway, enjoy this rather bizarre (aren't they all?) chapter.

For a completely random reason, I just bounced my first check and now owe my bank money. Isn't being a grownup fun?

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Tessa's hands wouldn't stop shaking. Despite the fact that she had yet to eat anything, she also felt the need to vomit. The smells of burning hair and flesh lingered as though Hunter were still under her, still suffering. Worst of all were the echoes of those words:

"_You're me now, you little cunt."_

"Are you okay?" Tifa asked when she appeared beside the teen. She knelt beside Tessa and moved to pat the girl on the back in a comforting manner before remembering that couldn't do that anymore. "What was that back there?"

"Don't act like you don't know!" Tessa cried, her voice cracking as she tried to hold back the sobs and tears. Remarkably, the elevator, which they were on, was empty of other passengers. "It was me, and yet it wasn't. I was in complete control, but it was almost as though someone was whispering in my ear to hurt him, make him suffer. Don't get me wrong: Hunter is an evil, selfish, and sexist bastard who deserves to die a slow and painful death, but he shouldn't have to suffer meaningless torture. Then there was that voice…"

"What voice?"

Despite her unstable ocean of emotions, Tessa was still anchored in the sea of hate and anger. "Don't fucking tell me that you didn't fucking hear it. Are you telling me some bullshit about my hallucinations not being able to hear one another?"

Tifa rolled her eyes and told Tessa, again, that she wasn't a figment of the her imagination. "Honestly, I didn't hear anything other than your maniacal laughter and his whimpering. He did seem kind of pathetic, but that's beside the point. Whatever you heard, it wasn't a ghost. We can't hide ourselves from one another."

"Do I look like I give a fucking damn?" Tessa shouted as the elevator dinged and the doors opened. Three people she didn't know and didn't really care to know found Tessa on the floor of the elevator on her hands and knees, wiping the tears from her eyes.

Much in the same way a drunk would, the former medical major climbed to her feet and slunk out the door, bushing her way between a boy and girl her age who just happened to have been holding hands.

"Fucking bastards," she murmured as she sat on the stairs and attempted to decide if she should go to the dorms by turning left and passing the library or going right and possibly encountering the higher-ups of the Garden's staff gathered near the Infirmary, one of their most frequent gathering areas.

Deciding that she'd had enough conflict to fill one morning, Tessa stood and turned left. People stared as she tried in vain to wipe the puffiness and tears from her eyes. She didn't really care: people always stared at her anyway.

As luck would have it, she made it to her dorm with no interactions between herself and the other humans aboard the Garden. She opened the door to find her roommate sitting at the desk looking over some book or something. Tessa just slammed the door, plopped on the small sofa, and growled. "Please go the fuck away. I want to be alone, and I can't do that with annoying bitches hanging around."

"Who are you calling a bitch?" the green-haired girl responded rather uncharacteristically. There were no smiles that Tessa had been forced to endure.

"They say it takes one to know one," Tessa said flippantly. "And in case you haven't noticed, I'm the resident psycho lesbian bitch."

"Really? I thought that was me. My mistake." The other girl laughed darkly before looking Tessa over and licking her lips. "Say, just how gay are you if you're knocked up?"

"Fuck you," Tessa spat as she looked at her roommate in a new light. This definitely wasn't Satis. Not the one she had been living with, anyway.

"I wish you would."

Finally tired of the game, Tessa demanded the name of the person she was speaking to, because there was no way this woman was her mild-mannered roommate.

"Why does everyone confuse me with that whiny little priss?" She flicked her green hair out of her face before standing up and straddling the chair so that she could get a better look at Tessa. "My name is Renea. That fucking Satis is just some dumb bitch that wishes she was me."

"And who wouldn't want to do that?" Tessa snorted. "You seem like such a warm and gentle person."

Renea smiled back sarcastically. "Same to you. So, you must be our new roommate. That Tessa chick that everyone is so freaked out over. You don't look that bad to me. You're bald and red eyes? Big deal. My hair is green, in case you haven't noticed. All I care about is how much kink you think you can handle."

"I can handle more than you're willing to dish out," Tessa answered with a genuine laugh. She liked this Renea girl. Nobody had spoken to her like that, not even Aili.

"We'll just have to see about that." Renea stood up and walked to Tessa. She put a hand on the back of the sofa, one on either side of Tessa, and bent down to place her lips against the other girl's. While shocked at first, Tessa fought back for dominance of the kiss, something Renea didn't want to give up. The challenge excited Tessa.

"Prove it," the bald one declared before they went back to the mutually pleasurable struggle.

---

The Training Centre hadn't seen much use since the failed attempt to clear the monsters out. Although Cloud had successfully defeated the T-Rexaur, securing enough food for the citizens of Trabia Garden for a few more weeks, that hadn't come without its price. He was still in the Infirmary recovering from his wounds. Tessa was off doing something else. That left just one person foolish enough to think they could go it alone.

She hadn't spoken to anyone since the escape. Running naked through the halls of the corporation that had used her as a guinea pig, and then being forced to fight Vincent Valentine and suffer Quistis's Blue Magic hadn't been fun. Neither had avoiding the truth of the situation that she now found herself in: someone knew.

It had been a conversation that lasted less than a second. No, it was more of a declaration than a conversation. Lying in the bodies of countless dead with cold, red eyes, Tessa had looked at her and said her name. Not the one she went by, but the one she had tried to forget like she had so many other things. The pain of having an eye cut out without anaesthetic; being fourteen and having to kill people just to escape from Midgar. Knowing that someone would be sent after her sometime in her life. Worst of all were the memories of the blood tests.

After Ada had saved her from the undead in Raccoon City, they'd noticed she had been bitten. She hadn't become one of the mindless, shuffling corpses. Instead, she had become exactly what the Umbrella Corporation had been after. Of course, Ada's employers wouldn't let its rival know that success had been achieved.

A super soldier had been born at last. Her intellectual capacities were increased, her physical prowess multiplied hundreds of times over. There was nothing like making a ten-year-old kill a man with her bare hands simply because he had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, so to speak. Unfortunately for Shinra, that same strength was what had allowed her to escape their facility alive.

When she had made it to Balamb, she was weak and starved. Cid had taken her in, fed her, put clothes on her back and let her enroll in Garden. Shortly after, Seifer had allowed her to join his small posse. It was just him and Raijin at the time, but when Fujin joined she immediately warmed up to the kind-hearted buffoon and the egotistical leader. She was given a semblance of power over herself and others without having to be thrust into the limelight.

It was good run while it lasted, but then came the Sorceress War and everything turned upside down. She quit Garden and joined Seifer because he had become like a brother to her. It was easily one of the worst mistakes she had made in her short, free life. Luckily, Cid was a forgiving man and his the war criminals at Garden as part of the staff. While the heroes hadn't liked it at first, they eventually got over it.

Then _she_ showed up, with the red hair that she'd once had. Despite the fact that she was only a few years her junior, the differences between their personalities were very obvious. Tessa was loud and bossy while she was quiet and listened to the judgement of others.

Everything fell apart from there. The first of the undead, just like those from Raccoon, had appeared in Balamb shortly after Tessa arrived. She'd tried o warn them all away, but nobody listened. They never listened to her. Now they were all dead. Just like Tessa had said at the memorial service.

Another Grat fell under her chakram, and Fujin picked the circular blade up, wiping the blood off on a nearby tree. She'd killed enough today. Now she had to tend to her other responsibilities.

---

The books didn't say anything. They never did. All she could find about the phenomena her Blue Mage powers were ancient legends concerning the Great Mage Society. She had gotten to wondering just what had happened in Junon when her spell failed and she read that one word.

_Sorceress_.

The nightmares didn't help, either. Every night, the same girl, the same tunnel, and the same piercing scream. What had been going on there? Who were those people?

While there was no proof, she had suspicions. There weren't many who could cast magic without the aid of GFs and Materia. As far as she knew, there was only one type of person who could do that…

"You're up rather late," a familiar voice said as the cushions of her sofa squeaked. Quistis looked up from the text, unsurprised to see Vincent Valentine. Long ago, she had given up on trying to figure out just how he could enter her room without being heard. He never disturbed her, so she didn't mind. His appearance was completely opposite to the harmless person she had grown to know over the past month.

"One could say the same for yourself." She closed the book and set it on the table before lifting her glasses to rub her eyes. She glanced at the clock on her wall which read that it was well after midnight. "Can I help you with something?"

He smiled a little. It made Quistis feel a little more relaxed. "You could tell me what is so important that it required you renting out all of the books in the library concerning Magic."

She was about to ask him how he knew, but stopped herself. If it were important, he would tell her. Vincent was definitely the secretive type.

"I went there today to find something about whether or not Materia could be the cause behind the transformation of that young boy in the Training Centre. Most likely it wasn't the cause, but I would rather that it not be the alternative."

"Which is?" Quistis asked.

"I'm here so that you can answer my questions," Vincent reminded her. "Is there something going on that I should be alerted of? The safety of the residents of this Garden is one of my main priorities as well. Could your Blue Magic be growing out of your control?"

Quistis shook her head. "No. It's just that something happened in Junon. When you were transformed, I mean. To incapacitate you, I had to cast one of my most powerful Blue Magic spells."

"I take it something went wrong."

"How did you…"

He smiled again, though this one was more sombre. "When I transform, I do lose complete control of myself and have no recollection of my actions. That much is true. However, you would not bring this up if there had not been something horrible to have happened."

"Yes," Quistis said as she pushed her glasses back onto the bridge of her nose. "Well, that is true. What happened was that in the middle of my spell your Beast Flare connected with what I can only now assume is the source of that particular spell. It was only the second time I'd ever used it. The thing is that my spell was disrupted, and the source of my spell shattered. It was almost like a stone. I looked a shard of it over before it vanished. It was written in an old language, and all I could make out was the word 'Sorceress'."

"Are you concerned that you may be a Sorceress?" he asked without any panic in his voice. "Because my knowledge, while limited, is accurate. A Blue Mage can never accept the powers of a Sorceress, even if she tries."

"Why not?" Quistis was curious.

"That is not for me to tell you. All I can say is that your answers can best be explained by the Great Mage Society. If they're still alive that is."

With that, Vincent stood up and left. Quistis sat in silence for several minutes. There was only one way she knew of getting into the Great Mage Society, and she hated to have to do it.

---

Satis sat up with a jerk and the remnants of a headache. That stupid Renea had done it again. She looked around and saw that the room she was in wasn't her own. The person lying in the bed beside her definitely wasn't one that she would have picked, either.

With the silence that only great training could afford, she got out of the bed and retrieved her clothes. This was getting out of hand. Someone was going to have to do something about Renea. If Dr. Welsh couldn't, then she'd just have to go straight to Edea. If anyone could handle her, it would definitely be a Sorceress.

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A/N: There we are. All done. It definitely took long enough.

I really liked this chapter. Despite the fact that Tessa and Renea were originally supposed to try to kill each other instead of doing… other things. At least I'm getting past the whole: Tessa is a moody bitch, thing. She deserves a little happiness.

Aside from that, the other parts of the story are starting to come together. Quistis is _finally_ thinking about the Great Mage Society, even if I didn't cover her dream as thoroughly as I'd wanted to. Meh, another thing for another chapter.

As always, here's a plug for my other fics. Please read TCBT (FFIX) and TloD (Ranma ½). Links for both can be found in my profile.


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

A/N: Sorry it's taken me so long to update! This fic has given me serious creative trouble. My love of zombies is beginning to wane with the rediscovery of anime and manga, but I'm not giving up. This chapter will be very Xu-centric. It was intended to be about Quistis, but I just couldn't write anything for her.

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Her boots clicked on the linoleum. It was a sound that she had come to know rather well. Ever since her arrival to Trabia Garden, it had stopped being a school. Many of the SeeDs and students had demanded to be released, and there really wasn't anything the Garden could do to stop them. The young people were worried about their families.

"Idiots," she muttered as she walked down the hallway. Nobody was awake at such an indecent hour. Who had been the genius that called a meeting so late? Nida was her prime suspect. Her clueless friend was precisely the type to believe that meetings between the higher-ups of the remaining Garden staff needed to be conducted with the utmost in secrecy. It probably made him feel as though they were some sort of shadow council, deciding the fates of other people. She felt the need to hurt him for not letting her sleep.

"Well, imagine meeting you here," Quistis said as she left her apartment. "You got the call, too, I take it."

Xu nodded to her blonde friend, and they walked together in silence. Yes, they were friends, but they weren't as close as they used to be. All because of that little bitch. Xu even hated to think of her. Nobody could understand why she hated the teenager as much as she did. Just about everyone disliked Tessa, but it was much for than that for the SeeD.

---

Ever since she'd been left alone with Phelan in the Galbadian Arch, she'd changed. Perhaps it the effect of watching him die. It wasn't the first time someone had died in front of her, or even the first time she'd lost a student during an exam. What disturbed her was the slow and painful way he died. As sad as she was to admit it, his last ragged breath had actually been a relief to her. Mindfuck wasn't strong enough a term to describe watching as a person vomited blood and had sores cover their bodies in a time span of a few hours.

Then he stopped being dead.

She was beginning to drift off when it happened. Time was a forgotten concept, and she couldn't even remember if it was day or night. The only way to tell was to go outside. Just peeking outside was an impossibility for her, though, as the incessant moaning seemed to grow louder with each passing moment. It was almost as though they could sense her presence in the building.

However, just as her eyes were starting to droop, she detected movement. The firearm that had been left with her was raised as she sat up. Phelan began to groan. Everything that she had been taught screamed at her to check on him, but the voice of her GF informed her that something was wrong.

He attempted to rise, but couldn't due to the loss of half his limbs. Then he locked eyes with Xu and began to crawl in her direction. Gripping the gun with both hands, she warned him to stop. He didn't listen. She screamed at him to stop, but he continued to advance. His remaining fingertips scraped the bottom of her boots. Panicked, Xu pulled the trigger and a small hole appeared in the top of his head while the back exploded.

Unsure of what else to do, she pushed his body down the hole that the others had disappeared through. The sound of his body hitting the water was no comfort.

It was the day after Xu shot Phelan that she decided to attempt an escape from the undead city. After dropping the black water of the sewer, something brushed against her leg. She bit back a scream as she summoned a Flare spell, for illumination. She tried not to vomit as she pushed away the bloated body of her former charge. Unfamiliar with the sewer structure of Galbadia City, she chose a random direction and began wandering.

There were a few monsters along the way, but no more "Rots," as Zell had so delicately put it. Momentarily, she wondered if her companions were dead or if she'd just simply been left behind. It wasn't likely for Zell or Rinoa to do such a thing. The girl named Adette wasn't in any condition to be doing much of anything, either. That thought process of self-preservation above all else did seem in character for the loudmouthed, redhead bitch.

Xu didn't know why she hated the girl. Perhaps it was a clashing of wills or some twisted form of jealousy. All she could understand was the anger flowing through her veins every time she thought of Tessa.

She was stewing in her anger when she was attacked. A cold, withered hand grabbed her from behind. With reflexes that came from years of training and use, she spun around and smashed the side of her fist into a severely decayed head. While she gagged, the Rot recovered and dove for her throat. Xu batted it away with the handle of the gun she'd gotten from Adette. After setting it ablaze with a Fire spell, which was easy due to its dry, papery skin, she took aim and shot it in the chest. The creature continued to advance.

Logical reasoning fled from her mind when she wondered why something that was on fire and had a bullet lodged in its chest could still be moving. Thus she fired under her gun was empty.

When bullets didn't seem capable of hindering its progress, Xu discarded the weapon and decided to subdue it manually. Before she could move, though, something else lunged at her from behind with inhuman strength. Used to the attacks of some of the strongest monsters in the world, this was nothing as she reached back, grabbed whatever it was, and launched it at the flaming Rot. They collided and fell into the putrid water. Some of it splashed onto Xu, and her body was quickly stained with its stench.

The flames were quenched and Xu again was bathed in darkness. However, she could instinctively tell that her second aggressor was also a Rot. The feel of it in her hands as she threw it had been too humanoid. She screamed as threw spell after spell at them, unknowingly drawing the attention of other things in the sewer.

No matter what she did, the Rots continued on their path to her. She had no choice but to back up as she continued the onslaught of seemingly ineffective magic. After a few steps, her back hit something solid. Xu turned around and, even in the darkness, knew that she was staring into the face of a third Rot. It grabbed her and moved for the exposed flesh of her cheek. A sound not unlike that of a striking lightning bolt rang out as the monster's head exploded, raining down rotted tissue, bone, and brain matter on Xu.

Two men raced of out the shadows and gunned down the remaining Rots while a third grabbed Xu's arm and looked her over. "Have you been bitten?"

He was wearing the red uniform of a Galbadian Sergeant, and the other men were in the blue clothing of Privates.

"Did they bite you?" he repeated while shaking the stunned woman. As she came back to her senses, the stunned girl shook her head. The soldier sighed out of relief. "Were you traveling with another girl?"

Again, Xu shook her head. She couldn't believe that people were still alive in Galbadia City, especially not ones that knew how to kill those… _things_.

"Shit," commented one of the privates. "Those two are probably dead by now. Besides, doesn't she match the description of the one she said would be waiting in the Arch?"

Blinking rapidly, Xu asked what was going on.

"Miss Caraway arrived with her escort, and they informed the General that there more SeeDs waiting to be rescued," the Sergeant told her as he readjusted his night vision goggles, which she had just noticed.

"Arrived where?" the woman asked as one of the privates fired of another round. A splash soon followed.

---

"What's so important that we had to assemble at this ungodly hour?" Dr. Welsh asked the group with a yawn.

Nida stood up with one of his subordinates, a girl named Sitara if Xu remembered correctly. She secretly cringed at the fact that her guess was correct.

"About an hour ago…" he began nervously as he looked at three unhappy women. Edea didn't appear to be bothered at all. "We began to receive a transmission. It was very weak, but with Sitara's help we managed to determine its origin as well as the message itself."

"Point being?" Xu asked as she rolled her eyes. "This is all good and well, but it could have waited until morning."

He blushed at that and she felt like slapping herself. Rescuing them both from embarrassment, Edea finally spoke.

"And what was the message my child?"

"It was a distress signal from Winhill. They're requesting that Garden help them relocate to a safer area. So far, they haven't had any attacks from… what are they called again?"

"ROTS!" Dr. Welsh and Xu all shouted irritably. Quistis was noticeably silent.

"Yes, well, they haven't had any attacks yet, what with the mountains surrounding them and all. But they believe it's only a matter of time, and since it is a town of mostly older people, they can't mount a much of a resistance. I think we should help them, but the facilities here on Garden at stretched pretty thin as it is. What do you guys think?"

"I think we should go to bed and think about this in the morning," Dr. Welsh volunteered as she raised her hand sleepily.

"Sorry, I just thought you'd want to know right away," he said awkwardly. Sitara sat back down at this point.

"Well," Xu wondered aloud. "If we help them, then perhaps they can help us in return. Like you said, we are low on supplies. Perhaps they have something that can help us. Food, perhaps. As much as I love them for trying, the lunch ladies can only make what we have last so long. And T-Rexaur meat isn't exactly the best tasting thing in the world, either."

"On that note, why don't we find some place to lodge permanently? The Garden's power supply won't last forever, and none of the main continents are safe," the doctor added. "Perhaps we could find some secluded place, an island perhaps, and begin a colony."

"There is a pretty big island right off Balamb." Xu liked the sound of the idea. "It has a large forest, and the area receives regular rainfall, so housing and water won't be hard to come by. Besides, the monsters in that area are pretty weak, with the exception of the T-Rexaurs in the forest, but they're pretty rare. And we could grow our own crops."

The two women began to coddle together a plan of sorts. Nida scratched his head and asked if that was a confirmation to go ahead with the rescue of Winhill.

"Yes, my child," Edea assured him. "I shall leave the rest to you younger people."

They watched as she departed, and then Nida nodded to Sitara and they left as well.

"I think we should stop at that island by Balamb before going to Winhill," Quistis said, the first word she had uttered since their arrival at the Infirmary, the meeting room of choice. "There's something I need to do, so I won't be there when you go to Winhill. Neither will Mr. Vance, if he agrees to come with me."

"What are you talking about?" Xu asked. "Where would you go with that lush? I thought you hated him."

Quistis shook her head. "I don't hate the boy. It's just… he doesn't do well with boundaries. Although he has settled down since he met that Eisis girl."

"Why do you want to stop at the island, though? There isn't anything there, yet."

Xu and Quistis both looked at Dr. Welsh before looking at each other. Of course, the woman wouldn't know what was on that island. She hadn't been involved with Balamb Garden enough to know.

"The Ragnarok is there," Xu told her. "I think Quistis is planning on using that. Aren't you?"

The Instructor nodded. "Yes, and definitely before Winhill."

"What have you got against a town full of old people? Why are you in such a hurry?"

Rather than answer the question, Quistis stunned the other two with another explanation. "I wish to establish contact with the Great Mage Society and I believe that Hunter may be my ticket in. He is a Vance after all."

With that, she stood up and left the room angrily.

Xu and Dr. Welsh looked at each other.

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A/N: Well, that was a long time to write about nothing. I've actually looked forward to explaining what happened to Xu and Phelan after they were left behind in _Resurrection_. The whole Xu saga will be explained over a series of chapters. You know you want to know what happened :)


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

A/N: Please review! You guys are my fans and friends, and I love you, but I do work hard on this fic. Whether you believe that or not is beside the point. When two chapters go by and I can't even drudge up one review, it doesn't make the effort even come close to feeling worthwhile.

Okay, the begging's over. Now, since she wasn't in the last chapter, Tessa will be in this one. The fic seems to be more likable when she's in it anyway.

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It was cold. For an unknown reason, the Garden was no longer drifting the seas aimlessly. The mobile academy had left behind the comforting warmth of the southern seas for the frozen Trabian Tundra. Worse, the internal heating system was not being activated in an attempt to preserve fuel. The answer for that was everyone dressing rather warmly after waking up.

Many of the residents of Trabia Garden gathered at the windows to watch the familiar landscape roll by. This part of the world was still unspoiled, untouched by the events ravaging the rest of the world. It was beautiful.

"Hey!" Tessa shouted, not angrily for once, as she ran down the halls of the dormitory, pushing people out of her way rather roughly. "Would you wait up?"

The person she was calling for stopped and turned around. He regarded the young woman thoughtfully.

She smiled briefly as the recollections of the events of the night before drifted in and out of her thoughts. "I want to ask you a favour."

"Ask? Not demand? It seems you have finally learned the value of self control," he laughed rather uncharacteristically.

"Don't push your luck," she warned Vincent with a hint of a scowl. "Anyway, the incident in the Training Centre showed me that my martial arts training hasn't suited me for all forms of combat. I want you to teach me how to properly use a gun. There's no point in asking an Instructor to do it, since you're the best shot I know and they're all a shitload of dumbasses that don't like me anyway."

He inquired as to why she needed teaching. Hadn't she used firearms in her escapes from both Galbadia City and Junon?

"Thing is, my aim is hell and the rest of it is shit to me. The only reason I managed to hit anything was because my targets were close."

He unconsciously rubbed his gun of choice, a three-barrelled handgun that he had coined "Cerberus."

"If I refuse?"

Tessa grabbed Vincent by the shoulders, catching the former Turk off guard before slamming him into a nearby wall. Those who were still around looked upon the scene with mild shock. She held her hand in the air, the fingers flexing before forming a fist. "I will mangle you worse than you already are," she growled, a sudden change in mood.

Vincent's expression never changed. He wasn't one to be easily intimidated.

"Stop!" Tifa cried, suddenly appearing. The apparition looked from Tessa to the ever-growing crowd. "What are you doing? Do you know who that is?"

"Shut the fuck up!" the teenager yelled back as she began to go into a rage. This time, there was no mistaken case of identity as to who or what her words were aimed at, as none of the assembled had dared to whisper a word. "Just shut the fuck up! Do I look like I want you damned advice? Quit constantly judging me already. This is between me and the freak in red. Now go haunt somebody else. Stupid bitches annoy me. Even dead ones."

"Whom are you talking to?" Vincent asked, his eyes concentrated on the general area Tifa was in habituating.

Angry, Tessa whipped her head back around and pointed at gunman. "You do not speak unless I say you can! This is between me and her!"

"They're looking at you as though you've lost it. Can't say as I blame them, really…" Tifa informed the other girl as the gestured at the people watching the seemingly one-on-nothing argument. "It might be a good idea to stop now."

Tessa let Vincent go and stormed over to the ghost. A flurry of curses was unleashed, but Tifa didn't even bat an eye at the many colourful insults and threats.

"Listen to me, you little holier-than-thou bitch. For weeks, I've put up with your shit. All I ever hear from you is 'tell Cloud this, tell Cloud that.' Why not leave me out of it and go tell the stupid bastard yourself? If you give me that damn 'rules' speech again, I'm going to scream. Just go away. I do not like you."

A hand on her shoulder interrupted her tirade. Tessa grabbed the arm attached to it and flipped the owner over her shoulder. Having been out of practice, it was a rather difficult manoeuvre that left her breathing heavily.

"Ow," Nida muttered as he sat up. "Have you lost it? You're pregnant. You can't be doing stuff like this. Come on; let's go see Dr. Welsh. She might able to help…"

Tessa responded by kicking him in the jaw. When he was on the ground, her foot began to make repeated contact with his ribs. All the while, she continued to shout. "Don't touch me! Don't talk to me! Just because you knocked me up, that doesn't mean that you are anything to me. How many times do I have to tell you that?" she shrieked with bloodlust before catching Tifa's eye. A long. Evil laugh preceded her next statement. "Besides, you're not even that good at it. I don't recall getting off once with you. Last night, a girl named Renea gave me an orgasm that you never could. How does that feel? Knowing that someone else, someone _without_ a dick, is getting off the crazy bitch that you got pregnant? Huh? Does it feel good?"

He coughed and grabbed his stomach with a groan. Tessa turned her back on him and crossed her arms over her chest before addressing the crowd. "Does anyone else want to fuck with me? DO YOU? I will kick each every ass here just like I did his. You're all just as worthless as this piece of shit, if not more so. So don't you go thinking that you can talk to me either."

"You've lost it," Tifa muttered before looking down at Nida pitifully. "Was that really necessary?"

"Yes. It was necess…"

The sentence was never finished, because something cold and metallic made contact with the back of Tessa's head. Vincent put Cerberus away and slung the unconscious girl over his shoulder. He looked at Nida momentarily before striding off. The crowd just wondered what in Hyne's name they'd just seen.

---

"Have you heard the latest?" One of Satis's friends sat beside the green-haired girl and laughed. "Apparently Renea got it on with that bald chick. I can't believe you'd let her get away with that. That girl is so disgusting."

"Which one?" the distracted girl asked calmly as she looked over a study planner. She really hated that she still had classes in addition to all of the other crap going on.

"Are you even listening to me?" the girl cried. One of the library staff shushed her.

"Laen, I _know_ what she did. You don't have to tell me about everything that psycho does. Sometimes I can figure it out on my own. The bitch didn't even have the decency to leave. I actually woke up with Tessa, and we were both naked. Kind of a clue there. Sharing a body with the biggest dike in existence can be such a pain."

Satis's friend smiled evilly. "Well, maybe that's why Matron put you two together. She could be trying to play matchmaker. If there's anyone that could get along with that bitch, it's your bitch."

"So understanding." Satis flipped a page in her textbook and glanced at the pages, but nothing was actually reaching her brain. Her thoughts were too wrapped up in just what Renea could have been doing with _her_ body. And why would her roommate even go along with the slut? She didn't seem the type to like anyone, gay or not. Just like everyone else, she knew that Tessa was pregnant. She knew before everyone else, actually. The only thing she didn't know was why the self-proclaimed lesbian had ever climbed into bed with the pilot.

"Quit being so moody. Anyway, that's not all. Apparently, the bald girl flipped out. They say she's crazy. She was yelling at air and beating people up. Well, Nida, but he doesn't count. He doesn't seem the type to hit a pregnant girl. Especially not one that he had gotten pregnant. That didn't seem to bother Vincent Valentine. He is so cool. She went all nuts and attacked him, but that was before she beat up Nida. Anyway, after that, he whacked her in the back of the head with his gun. She totally passed out and he just picked her up and walked away. I'd say the bitch totally had it coming. Maybe we got lucky and he threw her overboard. She's totally deserved that."

Frustrated, Satis slammed her book shut and stood up. She walked away from her friend angrily and left the library entirely. Why didn't anyone understand that she was tired of hearing about Tessa? Tired of hearing about Renea? She was more than the roommate of two of the biggest bitches in existence. Literally and figuratively. Despite the fact that she shared a dorm with Tessa, the two never saw or spoke to each other. Satis had given up on any type of friendship with the girl after the first time they had met. As for Renea… Renea had been around for so long that nobody knew which one of the girls was the real one and which was the disease. Officially, "they'd" been diagnosed after her parents had noticed the rapid change in mood and personality their daughter was having. They'd tried to put a positive spin on it, saying that they were blessed with two daughters, but Renea had rebelled constantly and all Satis wanted was to be thought of as her own person.

She reached her room before she knew it. After entering, the door was locked behind her. The couch called her name comfortingly. Her books clattered to the floor, but she didn't care. She curled up on the mass of wood, foam, and fabric. Tears rolled down her face but she didn't sob. She didn't want to cry.

---

Renea sat up and stretched. She vaguely wondered for a moment how she had gone from that angry girl's bed to the couch, but quickly dismissed it as Satis's doing. That girl just did not know how to loosen up.

---

She groaned before she was actually awake. When Tessa's eyes did open, everything was fuzzy. After blinking a few times, her vision cleared up but she did not want to believe what she was seeing.

Being in the Infirmary wasn't too much of a surprise. Nor was seeing Cloud Strife in the bed next to her. His chest went up and down with his breathing, but hers stayed flat. Tessa couldn't breathe. Sitting in the chair beside her bed was the one that had haunted so many of her dreams.

"What the fuck are you doing here? You're dead," the former medic whispered fearfully.

"Nice to see that I've been missed. I can't believe it was you and the spiky dumbass over there who took me out," Elena said lowly. Her teeth were still yellow. Tessa couldn't understand why she had noticed that particular feature of the spirit, but quickly began crying out for the other dead woman haunting her.

"Tifa? Tifa! Would you get your dead ass out here now?"

Appearing too fast to blink, the brawler showed up at Elena's side. "What do you want? I thought you didn't like me. Unless you're going to apologize."

"It's not that…" Tessa looked from one spectre to the other. "Don't you see her? Can't you feel her with your freaky ghost powers?"

"Who?" Tifa looked genuinely concerned for Tessa. Was her charge finally cracking? "There's nobody here but us. Us and _Cloud_."

Snorting at the emphasis on the swordsman name, Tessa went to point out that Elena was sitting right beside her, but the blonde was gone. Afraid that she really was losing her mind, Tessa rolled over and found herself looking directly into the eyes of Vincent Valentine.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" she cried in shock and anger. "I don't like stalkers. In fact, I tend to hurt them. So you'd better remove any ideas you may have about fucking me, because it'll never happen."

Vincent didn't respond sarcastically like so many others would have. Instead, what he said scared her much more than any death threat could have. "Whom were you talking to?"

Her mind searched for an answer, and she looked to Tifa. The fighter just told her to tell him _and_ Cloud. Tessa was a little ticked about the repeated mentioning of the swordsman but didn't say anything in return.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Hello, Tifa…" Vincent said as he waved in the general direction Tessa had been looking.

"You can see me?" the brunette gasped.

"You can see her?" Tessa echoed. "You fucker. If you could see the damn bitch, then why the fuck didn't you say so? She's been driving me crazy for weeks."

"The insanity is mutual."

The red-clad marksman told Tessa that he could see Tifa, but that he could feel her presence. "Being as close to dead as I am, it's not much of a surprise. I could always feel Aerith (A/N: I'm going to the proper spelling from this point on. Just thought you should know) around Cloud. She must want something from you, though. Since you two never met."

Neither woman wanted to mention the events of Galbadia City. Tessa was the first to speak, though. "She wants me to tell Sir Fuck-Me over there that she's dead so he'll 'let her go.'"

"So why haven't you? You said it's been weeks," the man asked. "If she bothers you so much, then why not do what you can to remove your source of annoyance?"

Tessa sat up and grab a glass of water that had been left on her nightstand. She threw it at Cloud, the glass and liquid passing through Tifa. When it hit him, Cloud woke up with a curse. Then he noticed who the offender had been.

"Welcome back. I was hoping to never see you again," he told her angrily as he attempted to wring the water out of his clothes. He also noticed who was sitting with her. "Vincent?"

After a nudge from the gun-toting hero, Tessa glared at Tifa. "I'm supposed to tell you that Tifa Lockhart is dead and to get over it. Now would you people leave me the fuck alone?"

Cloud looked at his mysterious friend, and all he received as a nod. Unsure of how to react, Cloud just pulled the wet sheets back over his body and turned his back on the one invisible and two visible people in the room. Tifa walked over to him and reached to touch him. Then a sudden change in her demeanour led her to turn back to Tessa.

"I never expected this, but… thank you." With a smile, Tifa disappeared. Tessa never saw her again for as long as she lived.

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A/N: Well, that was confusing. I am going to miss Tifa. It was just her time, though. I did want her to rest in peace. Still, I hope everyone enjoyed the closing of the Tifa arc. This just leaves so many more places for it to go. Next chapter, if I do it right, will feature Quistis's departure. The thing is, will Hunter be willing to go with her now that he has Eisis?


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

A/N: Sorry it's taken so long to update. Things in my life, personal and professional, haven't been going so well lately. I don't want to share the details here, but you can read my LJ if you're really that curious. In addition to that, there has also been writer's block on this chappy. BAD writer's block… There was another version of it somewhere with Tessa acting all emo and stuff, but I scrapped it in favour of this more action-packed one.

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"Run!" Xu shouted as she guided some of the more hapless Galbadian troops through one of Caraway Mansion's long and winding hallways. It hadn't even been a week. Not even a week she had been given refuge, and now hell was breaking loose again.

A wall exploded in a flurry of strong wind as drywall, wood, and expensive paint were pulled into the horizontal tornado. A young woman followed the debris. Controlled the carnage. Her face was pale and as delicate as porcelain, and locks of raven-black hair hung down to her shoulders. Once upon a time she was friends with Xu. She was one of the heroes that had defeated Ultimecia and saved all of existence from time compression. Now, though, she was just a shell. The person that Xu had known was gone, and only power existed where her soul should have been.

Rinoa lowered her hand and looked through the SeeD. Xu clearly wasn't her focus, as had been proven when she opted to bypass the girl in favour of hunting down the militia. At first, Xu couldn't understand why her friend was doing such a thing. Then she saw it. Or, rather, the lack of "it." The bangle, Odine's Bangle, which kept the Sorceress powers at bay was missing. Someone must have removed it, not knowing what the effect would be. Odine had explained it to them once, about how one person could not hold so much power for a long period of time without being overwhelmed by it.

"Look at them run, Lon. Just like frightened puppies. They even cower in fear like them. I wonder if they'll squeal or cry while I kill them," the Sorceress asked an equally blank soldier who trailed behind her. He had an automatic sub-machine gun. Looking at his former compatriots with no emotion whatsoever, he opened fire at Rinoa's command.

Hot lead eviscerated bodies. Blood and other liquids spilled onto the floor as Xu dove behind a houseplant that had already begun to wilt from lack of care. Soon, it was only Xu and the attackers.

"That was interesting, my pet," Rinoa told the soldier as she patted him on the head. Using the power of the wind she controlled with such ease, her feet were easily a foot above the ground, so she simply floated over the mass of dead and dying men. Those who clung to their last few moments of life were rewarded with a burst of magic that made their bodies implode in on themselves. "This bores me. Tell me, how many survive?"

Lon checked a small handheld computer before looking up at the woman. "Only a handful, my lady. No more than ten. And the young woman, too."

Cold eyes looked in Xu's direction for a moment before averting themselves dismissively. It was almost as though they didn't think she was worthy enough to be gazed upon. She would've been pissed if it weren't for the crippling fear.

"Very well, then. We shall leave the dogs. I sense strong powers nearby. No, one strong and one that's just beginning to mature. Let's see what would happen if we let the Rots have picnic." Rinoa blasted open another chunk of wall and floated through it, her "assistant" behind her on a cushion of air all his own.

---

Xu shook her head, dispelling the unpleasant memories. She was here for Nida. He needed her.

The cockpit of Trabia Garden hadn't changed much since the war, back when it was still Balamb Garden. Nida was still the pilot and there were still two raised platforms behind the navigation centre that he operated. Now the main difference was the fact that Quistis Trepe no longer a fixture on one of said platforms. However, taking up the position she had held so long go was the third wartime occupant of the cockpit. With her elevated status and intimidating demeanour, Xu was glad to be back with her good friend and onetime lover.

"I still can't believe you actually slept with her. She's bald, for Hyne's sake! What were you thinking?" Xu chastised the pilot in her usual brash manner. "Who knows what diseases you could've gotten, and now you have this damn weight around your neck for the rest of your life."

"Just back off, Xu," Nida warned as he guided the Garden through calm waters that served as the main barrier between the mobile fortress and the dead world around them. To look at everything from his vantage point, things still appeared calm and normal. His friend knew better. She had seen the dangers of the dead, and knew that Nida's kind heart was just as dangerous as the Rots. Nida disagreed with her. "I know that you don't like her, but that is the mother of my child that you're talking about. She may have made mistakes, but that doesn't mean I can't care about her. If I recall, I once cared about you in a similar fashion when all my friends warned me not to."

Xu angrily stomped her feet but continued to try to get her point across. There were things that he didn't know. "Yeah, your friends told you to stay away from me. They did that because I was focused and put my career as a SeeD above everything else. You knew that about me, though. Hyne, we already knew each other for years before anything developed between us. This… _girl_ is a complete stranger to you. The only thing you guys had to do with each other is sex, and that only happened one time. Can't you see I'm just trying to protect you?"

"I don't need you to protect me. I can take care of myself just fine," Nida retorted as he lazily drifted around the wreckage of a ship. It was becoming more and more common to encounter vestiges of older times, from before the sickness struck the planet. Nobody knew what had started the dead to rise, and the only thing they did know was that to "kill" them required trauma to the head.

"No, you can't. You're too trusting. I know things, Nida. I actually listen when people talk about her."

The pilot refused to look at Xu as he responded to her complaints and accusations. Just because he spent all of his time in the cockpit or following the woman carrying his child didn't mean that he was clueless. "I already knew about her and Renea."

"The little witch told you?" Xu gasped, raising her hand to her mouth in shock. This was her best friend. How could he not tell her what was going on? "When?"

"I stood outside her room for a few minutes, trying to summon up the courage to talk when her when I heard… _things_," Nida admitted as the ruined ship finally passed out of his view. He hated everything that was going on. Why hadn't he worn a condom?

Xu ignored his last statement with everything she had. "Nida, this girl is no good for you. She's already made it perfectly clear that she doesn't want anything to do with you or the baby. I'm surprised she hasn't tried to kill it with a wire hanger yet. They do that you know. Teenage girls get pregnant and panicked, so they perform their own abortions by hooking the baby with a bent coat hanger and pulling it out of their bodies."

It took everything he had to keep from screaming at Xu to shut up. The SeeD thought she was helping him, but all it did was irritate him. They weren't an item anymore, she had no reason to tell him what to do.

"Is it at all possible that you can even try to understand what she's going through?" he ranted at Xu, letting his attention waver from his steering responsibilities as he turned to face the woman who was laying out a scenario of his child's death. "She's young, pregnant, and scared. There are no protocols telling people how to act in these situations. I've talked with Quistis about this extensively. The girl you're talking about has suffered more than you or I could ever imagine. Nobody knows what happened to her after Shinra got their hands on her. Tessa won't tell anyone anything, not even Matron! Yes, you survived the infestation of Galbadia City, but so did she. She also didn't have an army rescue her and keep her safe as they formed evacuation plans. Squall almost murdered her back at Balamb Garden, and nobody knows why. Forgive me for not seeing your point of view, but that sounds like a lot to happen to a person in a matter of weeks."

"She had it hard, I get that," Xu cried in defence. "That doesn't give her free license to act like a maniac, though. Look at yourself, Nida. She almost broke your ribs for Hyne's sake! Why won't you wake up and see Antessence Matleo for what she really is?"

"And just what is she?" the pilot asked curiously.

"A whore who's trying to take advantage of a good friend of mine, and I won't let that happen. You mean too much to me!"

Nida let out a bitter laugh and turned back to his work. "Xu, we're not getting back together. I have a kid on the way. I have a commitment to the mother of my child, whether you like it or not."

"She doesn't want you! All she does is scream and curse at you, and you don't deserve it! As for us getting back together, what makes you think I want that to happen? Believe it or not, I'm over you," Xu screamed at Nida in outraged frustration.

"Ahem," a feminine voice interrupted. Nida and Xu turned around to see a short, rather unassuming looking woman who appeared to be no older than the girl they were currently arguing about. "Excuse me, but I'm here to relieve you."

"Thank you, Sitara," Nida said to the night pilot of Trabia Garden. He stepped away from the controls and brushed past Xu without a word. However, when he reached the lift that had just been drowned out by his arguing, he turned back to Xu with a fiery expression that didn't frighten her in the least. "If you don't mind, I have a woman waiting for me. Someone who just happens to be holding my future inside of her. Goodnight, Xu."

"Just be careful," the SeeD said with a sigh as she ignored the nervous relief pilot who was stepping up to the controls.

---

Renea stood outside the infirmary. She'd heard that Tessa was here, getting a check-up after some kind of confrontation or other. Satis was probably the one awake when whatever happened went down. At least, that's how she thought of it. She didn't want to think about where she was exactly whenever her "sister" was in control.

"Why the hell would she even want to see me?" the girl asked herself. She knew why she was there. Despite all of her efforts, nobody had ever given her the time of day. They still didn't. She wasn't as evil and cruel as the other kids made her out to be in their horror stories. Sure, she didn't take any shit, but there wouldn't be near the amount of confrontations if people didn't try to give it to her. It was a vicious cycle that would probably never end.

Tessa though… the girl had given her something nobody else would: she didn't treat Renea like some kind of freak. Before they released that she was the one awake, people would act friendly and kind. When they found out Satis was asleep, though, their attitudes changed. But Tessa's didn't change. Maybe it was because she didn't know the girls' history. Satis had definitely taken great measures to avoid the girl.

"Hello, Satis," a man a few years older than she smiled. She recognized him. It was Nida, the one that had gotten Tessa pregnant. Even if nobody talked to her, the girl could still hear the morning sickness. "Checking up on your roommate? That's very kind of you. Would you care to go in with me?"

"Um, how about not? And it's Renea. Satis had to go bye-bye because she's as boring as hell."

Then she saw it, the flash of realization followed by a frown. Now that he knew who she was he didn't want to talk with her. Typical.

"If you'll excuse me, I think she's like to see someone she can stand," the green-haired girl said with a toss of her oddly coloured hair. She pushed by him and into the infirmary, ignoring the medical student who said that she wasn't authorized to enter.

"So which bitch are you?" Tessa asked when she saw her roommate. Sitting next to her was Vincent Valentine and in a nearby bed Cloud Strike seemed to be sleeping. Renea would have been awed by being so close to them had she not been living in the same building as the two for over a month.

"The fun one, of course," Renea told her as she sat down. "I hear you've been causing all kinds of havoc without me, but no one will say what it is. So spill."

"What are you?" Tessa spat. "Fuck off."

Good-naturedly, the other girl raised her eyebrow. "We already did that, remember?"

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A/N: Yeah, I cheated. A large portion of this chapter is a reworked version of the scene you got to read back in _Resurrection_. It just seemed to fit, and I felt that I'd put off working on this long enough. Hopefully it won't take me two months two get chapter 11 out.

No Quistis drama, I know, but that should be coming up soon enough. In the meantime, enjoy the "oh, so wholesome" attachment Renea and Tessa will begin to develop for one another. (Yes, giving away that is my apology for the wait.)


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

A/N: This was supposed to be a Quistis-based chapter, but the plot bunny in my head demanded that I write this one instead.

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Quistis was gone. It made sense that, in the hellhole that was Trabia Garden, the one person Tessa could stand would leave her. Everybody she cared for left her. Aili, Adette… At least the Instructor Hunter and his annoying bitch Eisis with her. Though, it did hurt that Tessa's role model hadn't even stopped by to wish her former student farewell.

In addition to that, Satis's sister was starting to get clingy. Hell, she hardly ever saw her roommate anymore. It wasn't that Tessa disliked Renea. She just didn't want to like the girl. Even if she was good in bed.

A week had passed since the Garden had returned to the island south of Balamb after rescuing the citizens of Winhill. Young people would leave the mobile academy at dawn and return at sunset. The sea of green and brown she saw outside her window declined more and more with each passing day. Due to her "condition," Tessa was not permitted to step foot off the Garden. Yet, she knew what they were planning. It was futile.

Thinking about her pregnancy, Tessa used her free hand to touch her stomach. She hadn't felt a single one of the side-effects caused by the unwanted tenant in days. Since her encounter with Vincent, at least. She wasn't growing in weight or width, except for the loss of definition caused by lack of working out properly. Nobody had wanted to spar with her before, and now she was virtually untouchable. She suspected Nida probably had something to with that. He was a pest.

She wanted to scream. The only thing that stopped her was the other body in the bed. It was in that moment that she noticed her other hand curled up in the green locks. The oddest part was that she felt neither to urge to rip the hair out or remove her hand.

Turning her divided attentions back to the world outside, Tessa saw Xu and Vincent arguing. Actually, it was more of a one-sided argument. Xu was shouting something and waving her arms, but the girl had no idea what. Most likely, the bitch had found out about the red-clad warrior's agreement to train Tessa. His expertise in firearms was the exact thing she needed, since she had found her hand-to-hand abilities to be next to useless in fighting off Rots and the other dangers of this new world. She was surprised he had agreed to train her after her "episode." Just within reach, on her nightstand, was the firearm he had given her upon her release from the infirmary.

"Isn't this sweet?"

Tessa would have told the blonde to fuck off, but didn't even bother. Unlike Tifa, Elena could read her thoughts. Figments of one's imagination were more annoying than ghosts in that way.

"How rude!" the Turk laughed as looked down at Renea. "Would you like it if I thought of you that way?"

"I'm sure you did. But now you're dead," Tessa spat.

"And you're crazy," Elena countered.

There was no argument. If Tessa knew that her sanity was slipping, she didn't care. All she did was turn her back to Elena and embrace Renea protectively.

"So, tell me, just how good a fuck is she?" Elena suddenly appeared on the green-haired girl's other side. She was lying on her side despite the lack of bed. Her gloved hand reached out as if to caress the face of the one in slumber. She was met with the barrel of the handgun. With an evil glint in her eye, Elena smiled. "You know that won't work on me."

"What if it's not for you?" inquired the bald one as she moved the cold metal to the side of her own head. What would become of you if I were to pull the trigger now?"

"Who's to say I would care. Like you said, I'm dead. Although, if you were to kill yourself right now it would undoubtedly scar this beauty." Her hand once again hovered just out of reach of Renea's face.

"What makes you think I give a fuck?" Tessa bluffed as she set the weapon back onto the nightstand with a shaky hand.

Again, Elena laughed that laugh that only the two of them could hear. "You can't lie to yourself, bitch. Have you forgotten that I am a part of you? I know that every time you touch this one, you think of _her_."

Tessa fought back the crack in her voice but knew she couldn't stop it. "Leave Adette out of this."

Renea rolled over and opened her eyes. When she saw Tessa, she groaned and pulled away. "I can't believe she did this again. That's it. I'm going to see Dr. Welsh." She stood up, the sheet wrapped around her body. "But first, I'm getting dressed."

Lying naked on the bed, Tessa looked for Elena but found her latest tormentor to be gone. Then the door to her bedroom closed behind Renea. With an exhausted sigh, the teenager allowed her head to crash lazily onto a pillow. How much longer could she deal with these people?

---

"You don't know what you're doing!" Xu cried as she pointed at Vincent. The onlookers were ignored, which most of them had grown accustomed to. More and more people were beginning to argue randomly over the most asinine of things. However, the last time someone had yelled at Vincent Valentine, Nida had beaten rather viciously. Most of the spectators hoped that Xu would receive the same treatment. She wasn't very popular amongst Garden's populace.

"I'm quite aware of what possible consequences my actions could facilitate." Vincent crossed his arms over his chest and all but dared Xu to interrupt him. "Someone needs to mentor the girl, though. She needs to be stabilized. With Instructor Trepe gone, it seems I am the only one capable of that."

Her eyes narrowed and her voice grew to a dangerous fist. "I am one of the ones in charge of this Garden, and I absolutely forbid it! The last thing that nutcase needs is a gun."

Vincent informed her that Tessa already had one. Overlooking her growing outrage, he pointed out that she had no say in the matter. Neither Antessence Matleo, nor he, was officially involved with Garden, and the academy had no claim to the equipment they would be using either, as it was Vincent's.

"Fuck it." Xu spat before storming off.

---

The sun beat down on the bus as Xu sped away from Galbadia City. It was hot inside and the air conditioning was broken, but she dared not open the windows.

Out of the hundreds of armed and trained soldiers holed up in Caraway Mansion… She was the only survivor: the only one that Rinoa, in her power-induced madness, had not deemed a threat. For once, Xu was thankful that she wasn't a major piece in whatever cosmic game was being played. She'd seen the body of Hibrom Caraway. Not even the rotting undead that had chased her through the building could have committed such acts of violence and desecration.

For reasons that she would probably never understand but would always be grateful, the Galbadian military had seen to it that their public transportation was outfitted with protective armour. Not to an insane degree, though.

Blocking out the screams of the soldiers as they pleaded for her help while she fled, Xu turned her attention to the road before her. Now that she was free, where would she go? Timber was bound to be on its way to being overrun, if the bits of intelligence she'd gotten from the surviving military had been correct. Any major city or town was being corrupted. Her only hope was that the emergency distress signal posted near the old resting site of Galbadia Garden hadn't been destroyed when the building became mobile.

---

Tessa made her way through the underbrush of the training centre. Even though her training hadn't officially begun, she carried her gun in a holster at her side. It was a pain to have to do this. Nobody ever asked where she got her cigarettes, and she never volunteered. Although, she suspected everyone knew about this already.

Once upon a time, it was probably an exchange of money for goods. Now it was where Tessa kept up her addictions. She was not there for her gradual decline in health, though.

Nothing was said. She just handed over the food packets she found set just inside her door everyday. Odd were that Nida broke in every night to make sure Tessa was well-fed. It creeped her out a little when she thought about it.

The man was there, like he always was. Nobody knew anything about him other than the sunglasses he wore. He reached into a bag at his feet and retrieved a red wig. They exchanged the items in their hands. Thrusting the headwear onto her bald scalp, Tessa walked away.

It wasn't in the style that she had once worn it, but hopefully it would mean less shaving. Razor burn was a bitch.

---

She didn't move when she heard the name. It was as though her body had completely shut down, with only her eye active. As the seconds passed, Fujin found the strength to turn her head. She didn't want to believe that the voice she had heard existed.

"Alex! Is that you?" an old man, probably in his sixties, hobbled in her direction on his cane. "Come see your grandpa Dulm."

The old man passed Fujin. Her eye followed him as he made his way to a redheaded girl. She too seemed unable to move.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Tessa spat. Fujin didn't know how she knew it was her… how she knew it was the angry young woman under the wig. "My name isn't Alex, dumbass."

Taken aback by the rather course language, the man stopped.

It had been well over thirteen years since Fujin had seen the man. Her mother and father had gone back to their hometown for a family reunion. She hadn't known a soul, having lived in Raccoon City her entire six years. Nobody had even visited from the sleepy little town of Winhill. He had introduced himself with a smile. It was the first, and she believed until this moment, last time Fujin had met her mother's father. Why she even remembered what he looked like she couldn't say.

"Really? But you look just like my granddaughter." He retrieved from his pocket a photo. The one-eyed woman recognized the shot from her youth. Her mother and father, with little Alex sitting between them, smiling in the family portrait. She even remembered the dress with the ducks she wore. "You even have red hair like her."

"Shit," the girl muttered as she looked at yet another crowd she had drawn. For a moment, the two who shared more than any two people should felt their eyes connect. Then Tessa's eyes changed. They flashed almost evilly as she reached for something at her side. Fujin wanted to scream when she saw it.

"STOP!"

A wild kick sent the gun flying from Tessa's hand. Fujin remained paralyzed as she watched her other self glare at Xu. Not with the hatred that they usually held for one another. This was something infinitely darker.

"You shouldn't have done that. Now you've gone and spoiled my fun."

Even the way Tessa spoke seemed completely wrong. Then, with a speed that most eyes wouldn't have been able to follow, the once-again redhead struck the SeeD in the face with the flat of her palm.

Some of the braver people pulled the old man away from the battle that was undoubtedly going to occur.

Looking at the blood on her fingertips, Xu began to shake with untold amounts of pent-up rage. She kicked up at Tessa's face. With that same speed she should not have possessed, the younger girl jerked her head back and neatly avoided the blow. Then she struck once again. This time, a clenched fist collided with a ribcage.

"You little bitch." Xu whirled on her feet, a foot managing to catch a glancing blow on Tessa's shoulder. While her opponent was caught off-balance, the SeeD swung a haymaker that collided into the side of Tessa's skull, effectively knocking the girl to the ground. "That's why you don't challenge me."

"Oh?" Tessa laughed as she climbed back up to her feet, licking at the blood spilling from her lips. "And here I thought things finally getting good."

A cacophony filled the room as the two swung, kicked, and pushed off each other. Xu was being pushed to her limits, while Tessa seemed to be moving with a skill that could n have been her own. Fujin had seen her fight on several occasions. At Balamb Garden, before and after the Rot invasion; Junon; each and every time the girl triumphed against those at or slightly above her own level. But this was wrong. Xu was a force that even Fujin doubted she could handle with as little effort as Tessa seemed to be using. It was almost as though she were testing her former examiner.

Breathing hard and sweating profusely, Xu stopped long enough to catch her breath. It was mistake that she would never have the chance to regret. Tessa seized the opportunity and hit the other girl with a wild kick that sent her crashing to the floor.

Tessa bent down and retrieved her firearm. She aimed it at Xu, whose eyes were narrowed. It was almost as though she were daring the girl to do it. Xu obviously didn't think Tessa would do it.

She was wrong.

After the first shot, Xu crumpled to the ground, a red stain growing on her chest. Next fell the old man, a victim to Tessa's unnaturally perfect aim.

Everyone back away as the redhead approached her downed victim. Fujin wanted, nay, needed to do something to stop this. Her body just wouldn't obey her brain's commands.

"You are so fucking pathetic. And here I thought you might give an old girl some fun."

Fujin wasn't sure which was bigger, the sound of the gun being fired or the ensuing explosion of gore as a bullet pierced Xu's skull. Then those eyes, those evil red eyes, turned themselves in Fujin's direction.

"Hello, Alex. How nice to see you again."

Then those eyes lost their life as the gun clattered to the floor, Tessa following it.

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A/N: Did Tessa really just kill two people? Um, yep, it looks like it. And what is going on with everyone else? Xu's dead, and Fujin still seems unable to admit to herself just what Tessa is. So How much longer can this pattern of bizarre behaviour be stretch out? Find out next time on TCBT!

Oh, wait, wrong fic. Sorry. XP


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

A/N: Well, I really want to go after the Quistis storyline I have all mapped out in my head, but whenever I go to write it ends up being all about Tessa! Why must she hog the limelight so? It's not even like she's a good guy. Meh, eventually it'll come around to Quistis.

And you should know that there is a very mature scene in this chapter that will require this fic to be jacked up to M, even though it should've gone up there a long time ago. Just letting you know.

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Two days had passed; five since she had shot Xu and the old man. Curled up in a corner, Tessa stared at the door that opened only when the food was being delivered. The pain in her abdomen was as severe as it had been on the morning she had awoken in the small room she now resided in. It was evidently an old storage room that had been converted into a makeshift psych ward with one patient.

If she were her old self, Tessa would be screaming and kicking the door between punches to the thick metal. She would have taken advantage of the moments when her meals came and shoved her foot up someone's ass. But this wasn't that Tessa. She had been broken. Now all the girl did was stare, waiting for a chance to see someone. Anyone. Nobody had visited. Why would they, though? Wasn't she the insane one? The bitch? The killer?

Two days… two days since she woke up with the worst pain she had ever felt in her short and tortured life, the blood staining her skin. She wasn't found until her morning provisions came. She had already bled half to death. They rushed her to the infirmary, which was all the way on the other side of the Garden, since she was being held just off the Training Centre with all the other dangerous beasts.

Miscarriage. Tessa wasn't sure what she would have done had she been her old self, her strong self. Would she have cried? Screamed at them to get the mutilated fetus away after they had operated and removed it? Would she have given a damn? Surely, the old Tessa with the fiery streak would have done more than just lie there silently as the doctor and her half-trained assistants told her that she wouldn't be a mother. She wouldn't have ignored Nida as he broke into the so-called operating room demanding to see his baby, the tears running down his face.

Her eyes were glassy from lack of sleep. She hadn't slept since the operation. Who could sleep when a voice whispered hateful things in her ear? A voice that took on a body only when it wanted to further torment her in her helplessness. Taking on not just the appearance of her former blonde nemesis, but also that of the woman she had murdered, of the girl she had once loved and watched die, the voice sounded different with each incarnation, but it always saying the same thing. It had even shown itself to her once as Fujin, with a little redheaded baby in her arms.

Tessa couldn't even try to block out the voice. It was coming from her. It was her voice: the thing that had controlled her body when she had attacked Hunter, killed Xu and the man claiming to be her grandfather.

Creaking metal filled the room. A sound that broke the silence, scratching at her senses. Those eyes of hers, red as the blood on her hands, lost their glassiness for a moment. A girl walked in, long dark hair and warm eyes that pierced her own. It couldn't be her, though. She was dead. Tessa had watched her die. Her body eviscerated by Scarlet and her throat slashed by Elena. She had bled to death not even ten feet away. She wasn't supposed to be here! SHE WAS DEAD!

"How have you been?" the girl asked as she sat in front of Tessa. The facade melted away. The hair wasn't dark or long, it was green and short. "Do you like my hair? Satis probably won't like it, but I cut it for you."

The girl in the corner didn't say anything. She just blinked. This wasn't supposed to happen. She was supposed to be alone. That was what the voice told her. She was alone. Nobody wanted her, nobody ever would. Adette had even chosen her dead "Queen" over her. This wasn't right.

"I've been trying for ages to see you. They wouldn't let me visit while you were in the infirmary. They did hold a service for the baby, though. I know you probably don't want to hear it, but, well, what else is there to talk about? Anyhow, they say Nida was the one who dug the grave. Maybe we can go there when you get out."

"She's never getting out of here," a strange voice said. "The girl's a nut job. I'm surprised Dr. Welsh is even letting you talk to her."

"Shut the fuck up!" Renea yelled at the guard. Then she turned back to Tessa with a hopeful smile. "Don't worry about anyone thinking you're crazy. I have years of experience in that area to tell you that most of it is bullshit. You're never going to beat me in the insanity department, no matter how hard you try."

Tessa blinked.

"I don't know if you've figured it out yet…" Renea reached out for Tessa's hand but withdrew it angrily when the man told her to stop. Nobody could touch Tessa. Nobody should touch Tessa. She was supposed to be alone. "My sister and I aren't going to win any sanity awards anytime soon, what with us sharing a body and all."

The words may as well have not been spoken. She continued to lie there in the corner with her eyes little more than unfocused glass. The voice was back again, drowning out anything Renea could possibly say. But Renea wasn't there anything. She was Adette, and she was cut up and bleeding, Elena behind her with a knife at her throat. Tessa would always be alone. Anyone that tried to love her died.

"I hope they're treating you well. You look a little thin, but that could be because you don't have that little thing growing in your stomach anymore. I don't mind, though. You always said that if you did give birth Nida was going to get the 'damned bastard.' We probably wouldn't have been good parents, anyway."

Tessa didn't see the supportive smile on Renea's face. She didn't hear the awkward fumbling as the girl searched for something to say. All she saw was Adette looking at her with pleading eyes, begging to be rescued. Adette didn't want to die, but she had to. Tessa had to be alone. The voice demanded it.

"That's an understatement."

"Do you want there to be a fucking third murder?" Renea screamed at the man with a dangerous glare. He stiffened slightly and his hand went for the holster on his belt.

The knife slid across Adette's throat and Elena laughed. She laugh and threw the body away, the girl with the long dark hair changing shape, the wound moving from her neck to her chest as Xu struggled to breathe. The hatred in her eyes that had always been there was gone. Now it was fear. Fear of what? Tessa? Death? It didn't matter, because she was going to kill her. Those eyes widened as her finger tightened on the trigger. They disappeared as she pulled it. She was no longer Xu. She was Holt, and he was falling from the robotic spider to the sea of Rots below. And he deserved it. He had tried to take away Tessa's solitude. He couldn't though. Nobody could. She was alone. Tessa was supposed to be alone.

"Anyway," Renea sighed and cast one more look at the guard to see if he was going to interrupt. "I just wanted to let you know that, even if everyone else does, I don't blame you. Sometimes people just snap from the stress, you know? Hyne knows I've had my fair share of moments. Of course, I didn't have access to guns so nobody died, but there was a fair bit of people that needed to go to the Infirmary."

Hunter was there. Why was he there? And why was she crying? Hunter was bad. He tried to take away Tessa's loneliness, too. He let her cry. She wasn't supposed to cry. Tessa was supposed alone. If she was alone, nobody could leave her and she wouldn't need to cry. But he was there and she was crying. She was letting him touch her, hold her. Hunter wasn't supposed to do that. Nobody was supposed to do that. He needed to be punished. That was why she was hurting him now. Why she was sitting on him in front of his frightened girlfriend and setting him on fire. He tried to touch her. He was supposed to leave her alone. She was Tessa. He was nothing. And neither was she. She was nothing. That was why she was alone, the voice told her. She didn't deserve people, and anyone who didn't realize that needed to be hurt, needed to be reminded.

Those hands, though, as they touched her, caressed her, went into places that people weren't supposed to go. Those hands had made her cry. They made her latch onto the soft body next to her as she trembled and sobbed in fear and embarrassment. She wasn't supposed to be doing this. She wasn't alone. She wasn't supposed to taste those lips, let those hands feel her curves before they went back in and made her scream. She wasn't to be happy. Tessa was supposed to be alone, not clutching onto the woman beside her as though her life depended on it.

And she wasn't supposed to be letting that tongue go where those hands had gone. She was supposed to be alone. The feeling in her loins wasn't supposed to be there. Neither was the one in her chest. _Especially_ the one in her chest. She wasn't supposed to be feeling these things. This girl, she would need to be punished. The voice told her over and over again. This girl wasn't allowing Tessa to be alone. She was there. She was always there: even sleeping beside her so peacefully without arousing anger. Why wasn't she punishing the girl? Tessa wasn't alone. Tessa was supposed to be alone!

"That's enough about me, though. As fascinating as I am, I'm sure you'd rather hear something more interesting." Renea smiled and reached out to touch Tessa again before being rebuked by the guard. "Matron, she says that they're bringing someone here to help you. She's supposed to some sort of expert with these kinds of things. Well, Matron didn't use the word 'expert' per se. All I know is that someone is coming to fix you right up. It's lonely in that bed. I've been waking up in Satis's room these past few nights and it just feels wrong."

She was Tessa. Tessa was supposed to be alone. Elena was standing right there, and she was saying it. The voice was saying it. It was true. So who was this person and why was she sitting there talking? It's not like she could hear her. Not with the voice telling her that the girl would go away. Everyone went away. They went away just like they were supposed to, because if they didn't they were supposed to be punished for speaking to a nothing like her.

"I think you've had enough time," the guard said as he walked into the small room, pulling his gun out and pointing it at Tessa.

"What is that for?" Renea was outraged. "She's not even doing anything!"

"The girl murdered two people in cold blood. I'm not taking any chances."

"I'm more dangerous than she is," Renea pointed at Tessa as she lay in the corner she had been occupying throughout the entire visit. "Put that damn thing away!"

"Just leave!" the man yelled. Renea looked him in the eye with intense hatred before storming off. Then he backed out of the room. The creaking metal sounded again before being followed by the click of a lock.

The voice laughed as it whispered in Tessa's ear again. The girl had gone away, just like she was supposed to. Tessa was supposed to be alone. Nobody loved her. They weren't allowed to love nothing. Nothing wasn't even supposed to exist. She shouldn't exist.

Glassy red eyes continued to stare at the door. It was a long time before she blinked.

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A/N: And there you have it, another chapter. And I must say that I am surprisingly proud of this one. I'd even say it's better than the infamous chapter 55 of Resurrection. That is amazing to me, seeing as how there's that scene that probably qualifies as a lemon. And anyone who knows me knows that I can't write lemons. Still, I hope you enjoyed it.


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

A/N: Unlucky thirteen, huh? Or not, seeing as how we're FINALLY at the plot-point that is known as Quistis. Ha! Take that, Tessa: you annoying attention-whore.

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The Instructor marvelled as the orb floated in front of her, the light from a nearby torch rippling as it passed through. She couldn't believe that she was doing this. Even a week ago, her control over her Blue Magic had been virtually nonexistent, and now…

Things had been awkward at the departure from Garden. Some close friends and such had come to see Quistis and her traveling companions, Hunter and his friend Eisis, off. Although using the term close was pretty laughable, as was the term friend, since the only people there were the members of the shadow council that ran the academy minus Dr. Welsh. And there was one other. He had just been released from the Infirmary.

Nobody said anything. He just watched as they boarded. Or, rather, he watched as _she_ boarded. She, in turn, actively ignored his presence. Quistis knew she wasn't the only one to notice the exchange. Hunter had taken the girl's hand when they passed the blonde man.

She had left the two alone after the Ragnarok had lifted off. She stayed in the cockpit the entire ride. Quistis had no idea what the other two had done for the two days it took to get to the base of the Great Mage Society, or GMS as it had had been filed back at Garden. Her suspicions didn't include what she was certain Hunter had been hoping for, though.

Then, when they'd arrived on the island, Quistis found that her one link to the organization was utterly clueless as to the location of the base. The SeeD wondered why she was surprised. He had been the one to give the bad directions to Lotia Garden, which had never been found.

It was only through the intervention of the GMS that they had found the place at all. A man, dressed in a rather traditional red robe that looked as though it was out of the drawings of the first Sorceress War she had seen during her research, approached the trio after they're second day of searching. He explained that because of the current world situation the building that housed the society had been hidden with a powerful enchantment to keep out people seeking to do them harm.

Although, as Quistis glanced about the room she found herself in, calling it a building seemed rather inaccurate. "Bunker" would be a more suitable term for the underground dwelling she had been in for the past week.

The man had also told them that they would not be allowed entry because they "reeked of the stench of Materia." Quistis recalled how she had been turned down for Mage status because of her use of GFs, and now she had been denied again because of how she'd used Materia in Junon as a catalyst for her own Blue Magic. However, the man had noticed Eisis cradling her arm.

As timid as the girl had seemed in Garden, she was even more frightened while they had explored the local terrain, and her fear caused her to overreact to a simple Goblin attack. She had run off and slid down the side of a small hill, scratching herself up as she rolled over rocks and branches.

The man, the mage that had come to turn them away focused on the girl. Quistis bowed her head in defeat, but Hunter demanded that they should never bar a member of Vance clan. On many a night, even now, the blonde woman wondered just why Hunter wasn't already at the GMS. Why had he instead chosen to enrol in the SeeD program?

After some moments of silence, the stranger nodded his head and beckoned for the three to follow him.

Trudging up yet another hill, the man knelt before a rather inconspicuous boulder hidden behind a tree. He placed a hand on it and closed his eyes. What looked like a glowing spider web crept from his finger tips, enveloping the stone mass until it was completely luminous. Then it hissed and split in two.

Quistis and the two younger people watched in amazement as the robed man began to walk down an invisible staircase. He looked back and advised them to step where he did and nowhere else. It was a long fall.

When they arrived at the bottom of the unseen staircase, Quistis was wondering why she wasn't gasping. There was no great building under the Earth, no statues bearing the resemblances of the great and powerful mages she had read of. It really was just an underground cavern lit by torches, something out of an old book.

Another man, this one in violet robes with a large red hat, ran over to the one that had led them to the entrance to the GMS. The two began to converse in hurried whispers, with the occasional glance in the blonde's direction, but most of the time they were looking at Eisis. Hunter was wholly ignored.

After finishing, Quistis was unceremoniously separated from her comrades as the man in violet led her away. They walked through a doorway carved into the Earth, a thick curtain being the only thing to separate it from the room they'd just left.

There, she was directed to sit in a wooden chair while the man explained to her what was going on. He kept glancing toward the curtain in what appeared to be agitated anticipation. Most of his words were rushed and low, so she only caught glimpses of things centering on "Sorceresses" "Powers" and "Destiny." She wasn't used to this type of situation. Quistis operated in logic and facts, and this scenario offered neither.

Soon enough, an old man walked into the room, stooped by advanced age. He was wearing black robes this time, and Quistis was beginning to wonder if there wasn't some reason why every colour in the spectrum was being presented to her in the clothing of these strange people.

"Hello, young lady," the man said as he supported himself on the staff he bore. She rose out of her seat and offered it to him, but he waved her concerns away. "I believe you're going to need it."

He introduced himself as the third elder of the organization. He them proceeded to tell Quistis many other things, things regarding her powers and what she was born for. Things about the reason for the very existence of the GMS rolled off his lips.

"You are aware of Sorceresses, surely?" he asked Quistis. She nodded and informed him of her SeeD status. "Yes, I do believe there was someone with your abilities in that organization. SeeD was formed for the very purpose of battling Sorceresses, this I know. What _you_ do not know is that it is not the only group formed for that purpose."

"What do you mean?" Quistis looked between the old man and the one that had guided her to the room. "Are you saying that the Great Mage Society was formed as a resistance group?"

The elder nodded. "In a way… The teachings of Soa speak of the Tree of Life and how all things were born from that tree. Humans were born from it as the 108th fruit, preceded by the Winglies and dragons. However, the Winglies and humans did not get along, and war broke out between them. Humans could neither fly nor use magic, things that the Winglies could do. However, dragons, being intelligent beings as well, sided with the humans and granted powers to a select few. This led to the Winglies downfall.

"The Winglies were blessed by Soa with wings and the ability to use magic, as I have said before. They were believed to have been wiped out. Then there was another war, this time between two nations that were once one. Another few, who had inherited the powers of those chosen by the dragons, rose up and found that it was all the manipulations of a man hungry for power. Eventually, he too was defeated with the power of the chosen ones and the Winglies, who had previously been believed to have been wiped out.

"As time moved on, the Winglies left the separation from the rest of the world they had put themselves into, and began to live amongst, and in some cases fall in love with, humans. Enough time passed, and the winged ones had eventually all succumbed to the temptations of humanity. Now they no longer exist as more than legend."

The old man took a break as breathed heavily as Quistis thought this over.

"Surely you do not expect me to believe this fairytale?" the Instructor asked them as she crossed her legs.

"FAIRYTALE?" the younger man exploded, but a calm hand was placed on his wrist by the elder.

The old man looked at Quistis and smiled. "Forgot not that she hails from the land of Hyne. Nor does she possess the knowledge that we do."

"To be honest," Quistis sighed. Had she really come all this way just to meet some religious nuts? "I don't believe in Hyne any more than I do Soa."

"Perhaps that is a good thing." The elder waved his staff and a chair of earth appeared so that he could finally sit. When Quistis balked at this, he explained that it was simple Earthquake spell. "We all have excellent control over our powers, something you do not."

"What does that have to do with Winglies and dragons and whatnot?"

He laid his staff on his lap and had the man in violet leave the room. "Not all the Winglies mated with humans. There is a family capable of great magical ability. Perhaps you heard of them. The Vances?"

Quistis gasped. "Hunter!"

"Is that the boy you brought with you? He claims to be a Vance, but his aura is far too clouded for that to be true. Yours, though…" He seemed to look at Quistis with eyes that she could not see. "You are indeed a Vance. In humans, inbreeding causes the offspring to retard mentally and physically. It's quite the opposite in Winglies. However, to pass themselves off as humans, for looking at a Wingly is no different than looking at a human, they bound their wings with magic so powerful nothing I do could ever touch it."

"Even this is true," Quistis thought momentarily about the orphanage and her adoptive family, "what does that mean exactly? Am I some kind of nonhuman freak?" She remembered her adoptive mother pushing a young Quistis away after she had accidentally burned her "real daughter" with a Laser Eye spell.

"That is not the case. In fact, you are far from a 'freak'," the old man chuckled. "You may very well be humanity's last hope. The Great Mage Society was born to combat Sorceresses, the heirs to the power of Soa. You, my dear, possess the powers of Winglies. Our pitiful magic is nothing compared to yours."

"How is it even possible that humans can use magic? I thought you said that they had to rely on dragons during these wars in your story," argued the SeeD. She could not believe what she was hearing. "If I'm a Wingly, and you're human, then my magic should be greater than yours simply because you can't use any."

"Indeed, that would be true if the Winglies had not inhabited and blended with humans. Still, only a small number of Winglies existed by the time that finally happened, and to this day no more than twenty percent of mankind has the ability to use magic. In fact, the last time one even coming close your power appeared, he was merely one of us descendents of the union of Winglies and humans whose power was boosted by something unnatural.

"His name was Sephiroth."

Quistis sat back in chair and wrapped her mind around the whole thing. It all made sense in some bizarre way, but there was still unanswered questions. "If you know so much, then perhaps you can tell me why I've been having dreams of a girl walking down a hallway with a book in her arms."

The old man smiled at this. "So, your familiar legacy had awakened at last. That was you mother, Mai. During the Sorceress War with Adel, she had come to us believing that she could use her powers to destroy the wretched Sorceress, for that was the one thing Soa tells us. If a human kills a Sorceress, then the power is merely passed to the nearest woman. But if it is done by a Wingly, then the power simply ceases to exist because while it is a strong power, it is ultimately a human one."

"My… mother?"

"Mai was a courageous woman, but her aptitude for magic control was naught. We tested her and she failed. Unfortunately, her life was lost. She and your father had left you in the care of a woman named Edea who, it seems, eventually became a Sorceress herself. An interesting turn of events, but one that we need no longer concern ourselves with."

Quistis asked him why, if she was really a Wingly, her powers were classified as those of a "Blue Mage."

"It was done by the Great Mage Society to conceal the fact that Winglies continue to exist: for while many of those in the world follow the teaching of Soa, they will not find themselves too recipient of the ancient 'evil' beings of lore. And those under Hyne's rule would undoubtedly not like it either. For while they despise Sorceresses, they would undoubtedly dislike that which they do not know of even more." The old man wheezed a little and made himself a mug of earth with crystal clear water in it. "We hope that you will fare better than your mother, though. While your control is sporadic at best, it is amazing progress for something one has done alone."

"So you would like to teach me to 'control' my powers? Mould me into a real mage?" Quistis thought aloud. "Just for the purpose of defeating the power of a God that isn't your own?"

The elder nodded again. "That is correct. For while we are merely pawns in the game that Hyne and Soa play, you and the Sorceresses are the most important pieces.

However, it has come to our attention that there is only one Sorceress now, and she has the combined powers of all those before her. It is driving her mad. And worse, our spies believe that she has realized that she is the key."

"Key? Key to what?"

"She is the key to the very thing that separate life from death, from this world to the next. She is the key to Existence."

Quistis thought back on this conversation as she watched the bubble water float before her. She was destined to be the one to end the threat of Sorceresses. But what about the other threats in the world? Shinra… the Rots… could her genetics be strong enough to destroy them as well?

There was a crash as someone burst into her room, smashing into the chair she sat in. The water above her left it celluloid form and splashed down onto her. After wiping her glasses off, she saw that it was Hunter.

"What are you doing?" she asked her students as she pushed him off her soaked form.

"Instructor Trepe, we must rescue Eisis and leave," he whispered furiously in her ear. "We must depart with the utmost haste."

"Why?" the SeeD sat up and began to dry herself with wind magic. "What does your girlfriend need rescued from?"

"These people!" he said loudly before looking around in fear and disbelief. "Instructor, they have taken her. I watched them do it. She was bound in rope and her powers were being suppressed by another Geomancer."

Quistis considered this. After she had reconnected with her traveling companions, she had learned that Eisis was believed to be very much in tune with the powers of the Earth and, thus, a natural choice for a Geomancer who had the abilities to control the environments around her. Hunter had merely been shoved off to the side and was half-heartedly taught the most basic of Black Magic, something he complained about constantly.

"Let me speak with the elders. Surely you're overreacting."

Then her room was assaulted a wind stronger than the one Quistis had used to dry her clothing. "I am sorry, Miss Trepe, but I am afraid that boy has been feeding you a pack of lies," a strange man in black robes, similar to the ones Hunter was wearing, said. Then he raised his hand and a bolt of lightning shot in Hunter's frightened direction. However, it was cut off by a blow of water from the Instructor.

"I'm afraid I can't allow you to harm my student," she told the man with disgust as she rose to her feet.

"Do you intend to wage war on the Great Mage Society?" the man asked fearfully, looking behind him as if waiting for some sort of signal.

Quistis shook her head. "I intend no such thing. But I will not allow _anyone_ to harm someone under my care. Now I insist you bring Eisis to me."

"I'm afraid that is quite impossible." The old man, the third elder with whom Quistis had spoken on her first day at the GMS, walked into the room. "For you see, she is an Ancient, one of the Cetra. Their race is one even more ancient and powerful than your own. That power must not be allowed to roam unchecked lest we have another dangerous powerhouse."

"Are you talking about Sorceresses? Or Winglies?" Quistis asked as she attempted to calm herself.

"If you interfere, than I must conclude that you too are an enemy of mankind."

Hunter called out "Instructor!" but did little else. Quistis stood her ground and beckoned him forward. Then she raised a hand in the direction of the two men in front of her.

"Bring me the girl, and let us pass peacefully, or you'll see just what a Wingly is capable of."

---

Reno laughed as he broke the scientist's arm. "Is that all you've got, egghead?"

"Please!" the woman sobbed as she looked Scarlet in a vain appeal to save her own life. "I've told you everything I know!"

"Very well then. Let her go, Reno," the blonde woman ordered. She looked at the ruined laboratory. Shinra had done a good job researching her abilities and the history of Sorceresses. And they'd done a good job of hiding it, too. She would never be able to find every secret base they had. Rufus had personally left her out of that planning, and they'd all been completed by the time she'd become interim President of the corporation.

"Aw, c'mon Boss," Reno begged as he let go of the thankful woman. "It's not like anyone's going to miss her."

"Do you want it that badly?" Scarlet asked offhandedly as she looked over the latest batch of information she'd downloaded to her PDA. Being able to manipulate electricity had given her some rather curious powers regarding electronics as well, although it took some practice to control them.

The redhead nodded exuberantly. Then she sighed and gave him a wave that said: "Do what you will."

"You can't!" the researcher screamed as Reno broke her other arm. Then he began to break every bone on the woman he could find, her cries of protest turning to ones of pain. Eventually, she was overwhelmed and he just kicked her head off the neck, watching as it soared across the barren room.

"That one went really far," he bragged before picking up his Mag-Rod. "Where to next, Boss?"

"All in due time," she told her knight as she continued to look over her newly gathered information. "Let's leave before reinforcements arrive. I don't feel like wasting my time."

"They might have SOLDIERs, though. I've been spoiling for a good fight."

She ignored him, the electricity crackling around them both as they were effortlessly lifted off the ground despite Reno's protest about wanting to kick some "Shinra ass." Scarlet was and always had been a very busy person. She couldn't very well rule the world by just letting him break some skulls. Every now and then was fine, but for the moment she couldn't bother herself with the delays that Shinra's troops would undoubtedly provide.

---

"You've been a very busy woman, Scarlet," Rufus chuckled as he watched his two former employees leave. Had she not destroyed the cameras because they were hidden so well, or was she sending him a message that her power was greater than his?

Regardless, she was now an afterthought. He held up the Materia that had just been pressing against his chest. It shined beautifully, even in the fluorescent lights that lit up his office. Soon, not just the world, but the entire universe would be his. No more having to worry about AVALANCHE or Sorceresses, no more Great Mage Society or Garden, no more MAKO or Materia or T-Virus. All there would be is his glory. Because, really, what else mattered?

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A/N: Can I just say "whoa"? This is a very plot-heavy chapter, isn't it? If things continue at this rate, the fic might just be done by the end of the year. Provided I don't get writer's block. Still, most of this is the result of one night's work (like last chapter), so don't go thinking you're going to get another update too soon. I am still a lazy git. :)


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

A/N: Yay! It's finally here! The first chapter of full blown ass-kicking! What've we had up to this point? Tessa murdering people and Grats burning a boy to death? That's just not enough! Quistis must now go forth and show why she gets her own arc!

Now, if you'll excuse me, the badger that lives in my shoe says it's time to take my night-night pills…

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Just a week prior, Quistis had listened as the aged man before her explained things that didn't seem possible: she was the last surviving member of an ancient race of magical, winged people. He told her that she was the only one capable of destroying not only the Sorceress, but also her very powers. All through that, she had remained calm, dignified, and objective. However, knowing that the little man had just threatened her life and that of her student and his girlfriend… Quistis Trepe was pissed.

"Hunter." The SeeD kept her eyes concentrated on the old man and his compatriot while she spoke. "First, I'm going to kill these two. Then I want you to take me to the place you last saw Eisis. Can you do that?"

Nervously, the boy answered. "I… I shall do my best to remember."

"That's all I ask," she told the young man as she crouched into a familiar fighting pose.

The old man raised his staff as if it were a barrier to separate the two of them. With a steady, but fear-tinged, voice, he requested that Quistis reconsider what she was doing. She was in the heart of the GMS. It was not an ideal place to start a battle.

"Bring me the girl and I'll stop," she shot back. The elder said nothing.

She barely had time to duck, pulling Hunter down with her, as a large icicle flew over their heads. Quistis looked back and saw that a passage had appeared in the wall behind them. Two women, one in white robes, and one in black, stepped into view.

"Would you care for some assistance, Elder?" the one in white asked.

"It would be an honour, Hinora," the old man replied. He was struck with a powerful blast by the woman, but he didn't look any different.

Without a word, Quistis shoved Hunter in the direction of the women, hoping that he would get the message that she would deal with the deadlier foe. She resumed her pose, waiting to see which man would make the first move. A tongue of flame shot towards her, but she extinguished it with a jet of water. And then the jet turned into a gush, knocking back the younger man.

Then she swung the torrent around to the elder but he summoned a wall of stone for protection. Quistis blinked, and then found herself flying across the room as electricity lanced through her body.

After colliding with the wall, she gritted her teeth and looked for the old man, because the one who had chased Hunter seemed to be unconscious already. Quistis didn't see him until he slammed a petrified fist into her cheek, shattering her jaw. The pain blinded her, but she felt the splinters of bone begin to realign as she concentrated healing magic to the area.

Refusing to be caught off guard again, she moved before he could strike, and then refused to stay still. Unfortunately, his concentration had left her, something she noticed when Hunter suddenly cried out. He was down on a knee, holding his arm where it seemed to have been badly burnt. The black magess had wide eyes for just a moment, and then grinned at the white one before producing a large block of ice just above Hunter's head.

She moved to protect him, but once again the elder caught her with a blast of magic. Why couldn't she seem him until he attacked? Then it hit her, literally and metaphorically. After getting blasted in the face by a large plume of flames which she barely managed to hold off with a thin wall of ice, she something she had even taught on…

When the white magess had hit the old man with a spell, it had been Hastega. Quistis herself had used Haste, but that was when she Junctioned a GF. Now, she recalled teaching that the Para-magic used with GFs was inherently different from the magic of Materia and even more so that of Mages.

He had been granted superhuman speed, faster than her eyes' ability to travel. It came at a cost, his decrepit body wouldn't be able to keep it up for an especially long amount of time, but what time he did have might be enough to give him ample opportunity to take her down. That is, had she not known that it took a regular mage time to properly cast a spell, whereas her Blue Magic had always been instantaneous.

Quistis began moving again, and she sent enough electricity in the direction of the women to light up half a city block. She could only hope Hunter was okay.

The old man struck out once more with his hand of stone, but Quistis abandoned her magic and instead switched tactics. She swerved back to avoid the blow and grabbed his wrist, flinging him away. He would have crashed, has a sudden gust of wind not caught him and settled him down onto the ground relatively unharmed.

"That was unexpected," he said with a curious voice.

Unfurling her whip, Quistis cracked it in the air. "Did you forget I'm a SeeD?"

Then she sent her leather tail right at his face.

---

Hunter bit back a cry of pain. Something had hit him from behind, but just barely. It was almost as if the person attacking him had done it without taking the time to aim properly.

Of course, this provided his enemies time to attack. The magess in black threw spell after spell at him, and he had barely been able to avoid them. And whenever he shot one back, his aggressor was healed by her support, something he did not have. So he had decided that he would let them believe he was concentrating on the black magess while he waited for an opportunity to attack.

That had been before he was blindsided. And for a few blissful seconds the women were immobilized by a blast of lightning that had to have come from his Instructor while he tried to figure out some way of recovering from the invisible blow. He hadn't been recognized by the GMS, and so he had not received any real training other than watching the other mages perform their craft. And while he had found that doing that allowed him to access the lower levels of magic, he had next to control over it and his adversaries had likely been studying it for years. He could only hope that they would underestimate him and slip up big.

Soon enough, they had gotten over the initial shock and the white magess was casting her healing magic over them both. Hunter chose that moment to strike.

He somehow managed to fill his fist with fire and leapt, fingers stretched out. The digits locked around her neck and he increased the intensity of the fire as much as he could, the skin on her neck burning while the rest of her healed. After a few seconds of this, her flesh gave way and his fingers sunk into tissue. Hunter grasped at something he couldn't see and pulled while the woman struggled to both get him off and breathed. The boy assumed her had scorched her trachea.

A spear of ice hit him in the shoulder and he let go, but the damage had been done. Even has the black magess reached her friend, the damage had been taking its toll. Her face grew red as she struggled to get some oxygen. The woman soon began to twitch violently as her brain started to go.

"What did you do?" the black magess shouted angrily as Hunter as she rounded on him. She summoned another frozen lance, this one much larger than the one currently lodged in his body, and directed it right at Hunter. He countered by concentrating in his hand and holding it out. The weapon melted before it ever reached him.

She screamed that he shouldn't be able to do things at that level, that even she couldn't, and then threw spell after at him. But she was losing focus and her aim was sporadic with her rage. Hunter seized upon that and coated his hands with ice, his fingers coming to dangerous, frigid points.

The boy ran at her, dodging her spells and shielding them with his arms when he couldn't. He blocked out the throbbing pain in his shoulder from the icicle. Then, when they were face to face, Hunter struck. He reached out and thrust his fingers into her, five in her face and five in her stomach. One of them sunk into an eye socket while another two shredded her cheek. With his other hand, he pushed in as far as he could and then ripped his way bay out, blood and pieces of organ and tissue falling onto his feet. A fountain of red exploded from her face as she screamed and pushed him off.

Hunter watched the woman die. First she thrashed about in search of relief from the agonizing pain, and then her body slumped after the blood loss took effect. Eventually, she crashed into the dirt a few feet from him.

He melted off the ice by summoning fire to his hands. When they were dry, he looked at them in amazement. Had he really just done that?

---

Quistis found that the elder was starting to slow down, and that he was much more vulnerable to physical attacks than magical, so she continued to strike him she could. Of course, he still held the advantage, but it was slipping away faster and faster. Soon the SeeD would have the upper hand.

Then the unthinkable happened. Her breath was forced out of her lungs in an explosion of pain. She managed to look down and saw a foot of ice sticking out her chest. Stiffly, the woman turned around and saw that the man she had thought unconscious was suddenly awake. He had a victorious smirk on his face. It soon melted off, just like the icicle.

The flames continued to lap all around Quistis's body, touching but not harming her, even as she concentrated healing magic to the wound. It closed up rather quickly, and then she looked back at him. The firelight danced dangerously off her glasses.

She raised both hands and pointed them at him. While she may not have the fine-tuned control over her magic that these guys did, she did have a hell of a lot of power behind it. And that's what she was counting on as she sent enough heat in his direction to melt steel. And from the blackened body that fell out of it, she guessed he hadn't realized that.

However, Quistis remembered who the real danger was and looked around, one hand held out for an emergency blast and the other holding her whip tightly.

A blast of lightning came her way and leapt clear. When the dust settled, she saw the elder standing in the middle of the destruction, a strong wind surrounding him but not even managing to make his hair move. His hands were clenched at his side and his eyes were bulging angrily. Quistis formed a ball of fire in her hand and threw it at him, but it vaporized in the wind. As did the water spell she threw.

"If it is strong enough, and one can control it, then even the simplest of spells is the perfect defence," the man said neutrally as the wind lifted him into the air.

Quistis snapped her whip in his direction, but it rebounded and she had to drop it and jump away in order to dodge.

Then she attempted lightning, but it veered off course and blew out a large portion of the ceiling. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Hunter rush but the old man, but he was blown away with the point of a finger.

Finally, Quistis formed three large icicles in the air, all at different around the room, and sent them in flying at the geezer. They broke apart before they even came within a foot of him. Then he aimed a hand in her direction, and she was blown back against the wall. The force of the continued attack held her there, and the breath was pulled from her lungs.

While she struggled to breathe, the man floated to her. Her hands were pinned at her sides and she couldn't move to attack him. He stopped when their faces were inches apart.

"It's a shame I had to do this. If only you hadn't been like your worthless mother…" he told her in a disappointed tone of voice, like a teacher scolding a student. A tone of voice Quistis herself had often used. He used the wind to move her face so that she would look directly into his eyes. That was his last mistake.

Then dark beam leapt from her eyes and his head exploded. She fell to the floor roughly, her face covered with colourful bits of gore. She wiped her face clean and stood up. Her breathing came heavy as she stumbled over to Hunter.

The boy was conscious, but also seemed to be wracked with pain. She held her hands out and as the magic flowed through her body, healing her injuries, it flowed into his and did the same.

"Instructor…" he said as he sat up, but she formed two icicles over their heads. She turned and they went flying, imbedding themselves in the foreheads of the two undead women who had just risen. They're red eyes and open mouths a clear indication of danger. For good measure, she sent another into the fried corpse of the first man.

"Hunter, we don't have much time. Let's go find Eisis before they realize what went on here!" She grabbed him by the collar and forced him out of the room ahead of her. Then he stopped to regain his bearings and turned left.

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A/N: And there you have it. Not only did Quistis totally rule, but so did Hunter. Which was a very big surprise. But even more surprising is just how quickly I updated. Maybe I'm excited because the character development is over? Anyway, I would tell you what's going to be in the next chapter, but seeing as how I haven't decided if I'm going back to Tessa's storyline or staying with Quistis, you'll just have to wait and find out!


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

A/N: Okay, so I'm sure that some (i.e. most) of you have been waiting on pins and needles to find out what happens to Eisis, right? Well, you'll be disappointed with this chapter then, since it's going back to Tessa. And I'm introducing another character, too. And not an original one. I've been trying to figure out how to get her into this story for awhile, too.

A note: the "N" button on my computer has recently developed a habit of not working unless I pound on it really hard, so there may be a few more typos than usual. I will proof-read and attempt to catch 'em all (yes, lame references are the awesome XD), but no promises are being made.

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The helicopter touched down on the grounds in front of the Garden. Unlike the last time one had arrived at the academy I such a mode of transportation, there were no gathered crowds to seem who it would be. No, this was a much more low-key event.

Ellone hopped from the aircab to the ground in tomboyish fashion before looking up at her friends. Most of them, even her own brother, were dead, and she'd cried when she'd received news of their demise. But a few were still here. "Nida, Matron, how are you?"

She hugged the two and then looked at the other figures waiting for her under the shade of nearby trees. She recognized the men, Cloud Strife and Vincent Valentine, from the Arkalay Conventions, but the redheaded woman in the white jacket was unfamiliar. As was the green-haired girl.

"We are overjoyed to see you, my child." Edea smiled at her surrogate daughter without a trace of her characteristic mysterious aura. "Things are well in Esthar?"

"Yeah, our natural and technological defences have protected us thus far, but Uncle Laguna thinks the Rots, as you guys called them, will reach us eventually." She looked around but didn't see the other two people she had been expecting. "Are Quistis and Xu busy? I was hoping to see them. It's been a long time."

Nide eyed Edea. "You didn't tell her?"

"Tell me what?" the brunette girl unconsciously scratched her head.

"Quistis is off in the Ragnarok doing Hyne knows what with a couple of kids," the young man explained. Then he shot a dirty look at the green-haired girl before turning very sombre. "Xu is… dead."

With a gasp, Ellone covered her face with her hands. She hadn't really known Xu, but they'd always been cordial acquaintances. "Was it a Rot attack? Because the last time Uncle Laguna talked to her she said that you'd found a safe place to stay."

Nida moved to speak, but found himself cut off but Edea. "It was no Rot."

"An accident of some sort?" Ellone knew she was being rude, but she didn't really care. The engine to the helicopter was finally killed. An unbidden silence fell over the three. Nervously, Ellone regarded the others nearby, especially the girl Nida clearly did not like.

"The circumstances are rather muddled." Was all Edea said.

However, Nida exploded. "Muddled? The damn bitch shot her in cold blood! And some old man, too! Plus, she also killed…"

Nida quieted down suddenly, though whether it was because of Edea glare, his control over his emotions returning, or the fist to the back of the head from the strange girl she did not know.

"If you don't shut the fuck up about her, I swear I'm going to kill you! She didn't lose the baby on purpose, and you know that. Besides, your girlfriend was a stupid bitch. I, for one, am glad she's dead."

Vincent pulled the girl off Nida and she stormed back to the tree.

"…too much… girlfriend…" Those were the words Ellone caught Cloud saying to the girl as he slapped her on the back in a congratulatory manner. She had no idea what he meant by that.

"Come inside, my daughter," Edea held out a hand and smiled, her air of knowing things nobody else did had returned. "We'll explain to you everything."

---

Renea was nervous, and more than a little pissed off. She sat in a chair in the infirmary. She was there, with the rest of those crowded around Tessa, but Edea had insisted the girl sit off to the side. The Headmistress of the Garden felt that she, Tessa's lover, did have some sort of right to be there for whatever they were going to do to the girl, but that Renea should remained detached.

"You want me to relive her memories?" the woman, this Ellone that Edea had promised would fix Tessa, she looked at the strapped down woman warily.

That was something else that pissed Renea off. Tessa was not a danger to anyone. Ever since the shooting, she had been catatonic. Even when the green-haired girl had visited, there had been no response from the red-eyed one. But in the week or so that had transpired since Xu's death, Renea had noticed something odd about her girlfriend. The hair that Tessa had so meticulously shaved every day was growing back, but it was doing it wrong. She'd heard stories from people. Before Tessa had come to Trabia Garden, she was supposed to have red hair. Hair as red as her eyes. It was grey, though, the hair that grew in its place.

"What's her name?" Ellone inquired after more explanations from Edea and Dr. Welsh that Renea couldn't understand. She just felt so useless.

"Antessence Matleo." It was Vincent Valentine who answered. "She goes by Tessa."

Ellone reached out and touched the girl's cheek reassuringly, and indignation welled up in Renea. In the time since Tessa had left them, she'd not been able to touch the one she craved. And yet they were letting this… this _other woman_ touch her? "Tessa? Well, Tessa, you like kind of familiar…"

"I would like to start now." Nida sat on a nearby stretcher, his shoulders sagging. Why they had agreed to let him participate in this as-of-yet-unexplained experiment and not Renea was another source of irritation. When she'd ask to be included, Dr. Welsh had casually brushed her off by saying that her 'condition' with her sister could have side-effects that they didn't want to have to worry about.

"Very well then." Dr, Welsh nodded to Ellone and Vincent. The two laid on stretchers, Nida following suit.

Renea kept waiting for something happen: something big. It never did.

---

She screamed even though she knew she wasn't in any danger. Ellone covered her face and backed away from the monstrosity. It had been about an hour since they'd come into this girl's mind, and she'd seen horrible things. She'd seen a shadowy face violate this girl, she'd watched Vincent stiffen as a blonde woman attacked the redheaded girl, and there were several other memories that they waded through. Most of them were unpleasant. And surprisingly, up until the day that the girl named Tessa had arrived at Balamb Garden, there wasn't much in the way of memories.

Now, though, this was something else entirely. She had known that things were going on outside Esthar, things involving the walking dead. Nobody had bothered to explain to her exactly what. She suddenly knew much more than she had ever wanted to.

The three of them, Nida Vincent and she, watched as this girl and some others ran down a street filled with the undead creatures. Ellone recognized Zell, Rinoa, and Xu, but there were a couple of others that she couldn't place.

Nida looked sick. Deciding she'd had enough of this memory, Ellone skimmed forward. Over the last year, the specialists in Esthar had helped her train her abilities. Now she could delve deeper into a person's mind, and rather just just watch as some disembodied voyeur, she could actually give herself and anyone she brought with her form. It wasn't solid, yet, but the image of the person as she knew them could appear.

They were on a boat. Well, in it, actually. Tessa was alone with one of the people she'd seen running down that street just moments before, a girl. They were talking about things. The girl's name was Adette, and she'd just shot Rinoa in the head. And then they began kissing. This was not something that they should watching, Ellone decided, and she moved ahead even further. Nida looked even worse.

They were in what appeared to be a laboratory. That same girl Tessa had been kissing was there as well, but she was badly bruised and bound with tape over her mouth. The blonde woman that had attacked Tessa was holding her still while another woman, one Ellone knew as the former acting president of Shinra, tortured Adette while Tessa, trapped in a glass cylinder, looked on. Then the bald girl, who was no longer a redhead, began yelling, threatening, and Adette's throat was slit. Again, Ellone moved on.

Finally, they reached another lab of sorts, where the Shinra president, a woman named Scarlet, bragged about how someone in sphere on the wall was someone named "Alex, and Tessa wasn't. Ellone looked at the sphere and almost gagged. The person in the sphere was someone Ellone knew rather well.

"You really shouldn't be here." A hand reached out and smacked Ellone to the floor. Surprised, the brunette girl's eyes widened as she looked up. The blonde assassin, she believed her name was Elena, leered down at her. That wasn't supposed to happen. Nothing of the sort had ever happened before. "You don't know what you're doing, little girl. This isn't a playground."

There was the click of a gun. Both women looked over and saw Vincent aiming the firearm at Elena. The killer just grinned.

"You think that puny thing can hurt me?"

Vincent stepped forward and put the weapon back in it's holster. He reached out and grabbed Elena's arm. The woman looked curiously at him. After a few seconds, she began to frown.

"What are you doing?"

Vincent ignored her question and looked at Ellone. "Madam, if you would, please take us back."

Elena tried to free herself from his grip, but found she was beginning to be absorbed into his body. Off in the background, Nida could be heard retching.

"No! You can't take me away! I'm in control here!" Elena screamed, but Vincent wrapped his other arm around her as she began to scream a scream of death as more and more of her disappeared into his visage. She finally vanished.

"I've housed demons far worse than this," the man said. Unsure of what else to do, Ellone cut the connection. She wasn't sure what had just been accomplished. In fact, she wasn't sure of anything that she had done.

---

"Out of the way!" Renea screamed as she pushed Cloud. The blond man grunted, but she didn't care. There heart monitor, which had been beeping steadily, was now blaring as the three older people began to wake up from their bizarre sleep. Edea laid a hand on her shoulder, and the girl looked up at her.

Dr. Welsh tore open Tessa's gown and grabbed for something. Renea didn't know what it was called, but she'd seen it used. Two paddles were placed on the girl's chest and the doctor yelled out "Clear!" before shocking the girl. Tessa arched with the bolts, but fell back to the bed, the monitor still blaring.

---

It was that same field she had been in before. Tessa cursed loudly as she grabbed one of the pink flowers and shredded it. How many times would she have this hallucination?

"It's good to see you. Although, I must say, I really do prefer you with red hair."

She stopped the destruction of the plant at that voice. Tessa brushed her long grey hair from her face and looked at the dark-haired girl before her. For weeks, she'd only seen that face in her dreams and when she closed her eyes. When she kissed Renea, it's been those lips she touched. And when things became more physical, it was that body that moved against hers.

"Adette…"

"Lo and behold, the bitch can speak!" the dark-haired girl laughed and pushed a few stray hands from her face. "We don't have much time. There's something I need to tell you."

Tessa still couldn't speak. She couldn't allow herself to notice the beauty of the insular world around her. Her attention was focused solely on Adette, on every move the dead girl made, the way her lips met and parted as she spoke.

"Listen, you can't hold onto me forever. I know there's someone else. It's okay to have someone else. It's not like we were anything…"

Her words were cut off as Tessa closed the distance between them. Her hands, cleansed of the scars she had collected over the previous weeks, found themselves settled on Adette's hips as she kissed her first love. She could… she could actually _feel_ her, touch her, taste her. It was everything Tessa wanted, everything she had craved and longed for. Everything she could ever want was there. Yet, it had a horrible sense of wrongness about it.

"Stop!" Adette shouted as she pushed Tessa to the ground, crushing the flowers with the crimson-eyed girl. "We… I… just don't. We can't do that anymore. That's what I'm trying to tell you, Tessa. I'm dead. I'm never coming back. So just give up on me."

"Fuck you!" Tessa wailed as tears began to form in the corners of her eyes. "You wouldn't let me have you while you were alive, and now you're saying I can't have you when you're dead? I don't give a fucking shit! You're mine, damn it! You're mine and you always will be!"

"What about her?" Adette looked back at the waterfall behind her. The white foam that traveled with the liquid flecked off as it crossed the threshold, but it never came close to the land on which the two stood. When she looked back at Tessa, her eyes were narrowed. "Don't you care about the girl you slept with? The one who visited you when you were a drooling mess locked up in a janitor's closet? What about that girl, Tessa?"

Tessa punched the ground before standing up. "She's nothing! All I want is you. All I've ever wanted is you!"

"YOU DON'T KNOW ME!" Adette shouted angrily as she glared at the other girl. After breathing heavily, she regained her composure. "Do you even know my last name?"

"…"

Try as she might, Tessa couldn't think of a thing. She couldn't remember what Adette's surname was.

"It's Berna," the dead girl spoke simply. "But I don't blame you for forgetting it. We'd only known each other for a few days, maybe a couple of weeks. And I was unconscious for a large portion of it. I don't think it was me you loved Tessa. I think you were looking for someone to love, someone who loved you.

What happened to you, your 'birth,' I know all about it. That blonde woman who tortured me, the things she said were true." When Tessa began to cover her ears and shake her head, Adette grabbed her wrists and looked Tessa in the eyes. "It's okay. I've had quite a lot of time to think things over. You're not to blame. To think they would fake your rape. And I don't even know why they did it. I doubt even they know why. But it's okay to let people in without becoming obsessive and possessive."

Jerking her right hand free from Adette's calming grip, Tessa formed a fist and lashed out, striking the girl in the chin. "Fuck you! Quit acting like you know every-fucking-thing! Just because I happened to fall in love with you doesn't mean you can play psychologist with me."

Adette rubbed her chin and glared angrily. "What the hell is your problem? Are you that upset that I don't want to spend all of eternity looking at your ugly mug?"

"Bitch…" Tessa groaned before turning her back to Adette and staring at hand in disbelief. Had she really just punched the woman she claimed as the love of her life?

Two hands found themselves wrapped around Tessa, resting on her stomach. "So maybe I'm not perfect. And even you know that you're not. That doesn't mean that you can go around treating everyone like they're beneath you, Tessa. Find her, talk to her. Things need to be resolved between you two. Maybe if you that, then you can finally find the strength to depend on yourself instead of me."

"Renea?"

The hot breath against Tessa's neck make her knees weaken, but the words are what caused her to fall to the ground.

"No. Fujin."

---

Cloud watched as the red-headed doctor looked at the monitor in confusion. Where there had once been a flat line, there were suddenly like spikes. He was no doctor, but even he knew that this meant her heart was beating. So the little bitch was going to make it after all.

With the concentration off of Tessa, everyone suddenly turned to Ellone, assaulting her with questions. He even threw a few in just, for kicks.

"I can't… not now," was all the girl would say before being escorted away by Edea. Then the Nida boy followed suit and left, leaving Cloud and Dr. Welsh staring at each other.

"That was interesting," the mercenary shrugged nonchalantly. He turned to say something to Vincent, but saw that his friend had vanished during the commotion, as has Tessa girlfriend. He found it odd that the girl would leave while Tessa was dying, but Cloud found it even odder that her cared.

---

She sat on a bench near the Infirmary, unwilling to think the thoughts in her head. She knew something was going to happen. She knew that Tessa was going to screw things up again. She just had no idea how badly.

When the hand was laid upon her shoulder, the girl jumped but didn't say anything.

"I think it's time we talked about this," Vincent said before he sat beside her. "We don't have to do it here, and we don't have to do it in front of her, but the air does need cleared."

Fujin blinked but said nothing.

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A/N: Well, that was a rather longish chapter by R&R standards. And I know you're probably disappointed by the brevity of the end of the Elena arc, but sometimes things really are that simple. Although the next chapter should have some deep exploration into just what the events of this chapter will have regarding the whole Tessa/Alex/Fujin conundrum.


	17. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

A/N: Let me just tell you ahead of time that this is a weird chapter. One of several, yes, but nonetheless I felt it deserved a warning.

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In her numbed state of semi-consciousness, Tessa lifted her head from the pillow and opened her eyes. The dream, it had been just like that other time, back in Junon.

"Look at who's finally awake."

Fuck. Did that part of the memory have to be re-enacted as well.

"What the hell do you want?"

She blinked a few times before looking directly into the blue eyes of Cloud Strife. Why was he here? Better yet, where the fuck was 'here?'

"Can't a guy just worry about his favourite little psychopath? You almost died. It's a shame, too. I would have loved to've seen what people would say at your funeral. Probably wouldn't be a funny as the last one I went to, though. They didn't invite me to your kid's, you see."

As strong an urge as she felt to strike Cloud, Tessa found that she couldn't. while she was asleep, someone had strapped her down. "Do you mind taking these off and explaining to me just what the fuck you're talking about?"

"I wish I knew the whole story," Cloud shrugged as though he didn't have a care in the world. "As it is, you apparently went nuts and shot some other angry bitch and an old man, and then they brought in some chick named Ellone to take a peek inside your head and find out why you went all screwy. Or something. I'm just another dumb blond, it seems."

"Good for you. Now please undo these restraints before I kick your ass." Tessa growled for emphasis. Cloud just laughed her off.

"Why the hell would I do that? Do you have any idea how badly I've wanted to see you like this?" the swordsman looked over at his purple sword in the corner and grinned. "Besides, I seem to recall you attacking me the last time you died."

Died? Tessa shook her head and looked away from Cloud. Was it possible that the meeting with Adette wasn't just some simple dream? Had it really happened? She shook her head and reminded herself that it was probably just a side-effect of the temporary loss of oxygen to her brain.

"She's awake?" a familiar looking woman with long red hair walked into the room. She wore a white labcoat and held a clipboard in her hand. Tessa unconsciously snarled. People that looked like this woman generally weren't the type to be trusted.

"Yes, I'm awake. And I want to know just why the fuck I'm strapped to this bed!" Tessa shouted at the top of her voice. "Forgive me if I'm a little irritated. Pregnancy can make a person bitchy."

Tessa caught Cloud and the doctor look at each other. Then the redheaded woman began to speak up, but Cloud interrupted. "You aren't pregnant anymore, so get over it."

"I… what?"

"Mr. Strife, I thought we had an understanding to be gentle when handling this kind of information!" admonished the woman. Cloud just shrugged again.

"When dealing with someone like her, you just have to be blunt."

Red eyes narrowed at this. "Someone like what? Are you implying something?"

The blond man shook his head. "Nope. I don't have to. Everyone knows that you're a royal pain in the ass with an over-inflated ego."

Snorting, Tessa grinned evilly at that. "At least I don't have some sort of undead boyfriend who can't keep away from the crazed bitch you just described."

"Mr. Strife, there's something we need to discuss." The doctor woman then turned to Tessa. "…there are some other visitors who want to talk to you. They want to wait until you were awake, though."

"Send the dumbasses in. I need someone else to yell at. This little fruitcake is starting to get boring, anyway," Tessa shot at Cloud, who actively ignored her.

"Actually, Dr. Welsh, it was recommended by someone above your station that I babysit this dyke, so if you don't mind, I think I'll stay here," the warrior laughed as he shot a dirty look at Tessa. "You can send in whoever your so-called guest is, though."

Sighing, the woman nodded and strode to the door. She slipped out and Vincent walked in. Tessa couldn't make out who was following him, but the hairs on her arm stood up.

"If you would please close the door," Vincent said to whomever it was he had brought. His red form still blocked Tessa's line of view, but she waited for him to address her before she spoke. "Tessa, there's something you need to know."

"Oh, so you and Cloud really are fuck buddies? I knew it, Blondie," she said to the swordsman who blanched. Vincent, however, remained unflappable.

"Be serious, Miss Matleo."

"What's with the damned formality all of a sudden? First I have him saying that I'm not knocked up anymore and that I'm nuts, and now you're acting all mysterious. Well, you usually do, but I tend to not believe people that I hate, so clue me in as to what the fuck is going down."

Vincent nodded and confirmed that what Cloud had said was true. This shut Tessa up immediately, and she looked away from the other people in the room. So, she really had killed someone? And she had miscarried?

"Who was it?" Tessa asked, deciding not to concentrate on her failed pregnancy. "Who was it I offed?"

"One was an old man who thought you might be his granddaughter, a girl named Alex," Cloud explained because he was tired of being quiet. "The other one was some chick named Xu."

"Oh, I finally killed her?" Tessa inquired, actively ignoring the bait that Vincent had laid out in regards to her other victim.

"What do you mean by 'finally'?" Cloud shook his head and looked at the person in the room Tessa still couldn't see. Why did someone feel the need to hide behind Vincent? It wasn't as though Tessa was up to killing anyone else at that moment.

"I hated her, she hated me, it was only a matter of time before one of us took care of business," Tessa said simply. To be honest, she didn't even feel guilty about the knowledge that she had killed her former examiner. She looked at Vincent and smiled before speaking in an obviously fake-pleasant voice. "Now, Darling, your little bitch here mentioned something about some people taking a look inside my head. Tell me, what the fuck does that mean?"

The man in red retained his composure as he answered her. "It means we know all about the T-virus, and Alex."

Tessa's eyes bulged out of her head. They actually _knew_. After she'd tried so hard to hide it… She closed her eyes and sucked in a fragile breath. It was all out there. Everyone knew. They knew that it was her fault the Rots were wandering around, killing everyone. What the fuck was she going to do now?

"So what?"

Vincent looked at Cloud and told him to undo the bindings. The blond man started to protest, but a look from his compatriot silenced him.

When Tessa was free, she sat up and began to rub where her circulation had been cut off by the restraints. "What are you going to do? Out me to the world as the greatest evil in existence? Because I'm sure everyone in this room is already thinking that, and the ones on the other side of the door probably agree with them."

"Not everyone thinks you're evil," Vincent responded.

Cloud raised his hand. "I do."

"Fuck off," the girl shot at him. "Are you telling me that you think you can redeem me, Mr. Valentine? You can save this poor lost soul from the fiery pits of hell? Because I can tell you now that it's a waste of time to try to convince me to atone for my so-called sins. I don't believe in the afterlife. And even if there is one, I know that I couldn't do anything to make it into heaven, so you might as well give up and go bye-bye now."

"I have no interest in the state of your soul." Vincent stepped to the side and Tessa found her voice missing. She'd almost forgotten that there was a fourth occupant in the room. As if to defend herself from the gaze cast onto her, the young girl drew her knees up and wrapped her arms around them.

"What the hell is going on here?" Cloud asked Vincent. Then he pointed a finger at Tessa. "I thought you went after this chick's fucked-up girlfriend, not some other freak."

Fujin glared at Cloud but wouldn't look at Tessa. That didn't bother her one bit.

"Tessa, we learned who Alex is." Vincent said as he gestured at Fujin. "It took some convincing, but she agreed to come see you."

"Who the fuck is 'we'?" Tessa looked angrily at Vincent, avoiding Fujin altogether.

"In addition to myself, there was also a girl named Ellone and the man who father your late child, Nida, who glimpsed at your memories."

Tessa grabbed the nearest thing she could find, a half-empty glass of water on the stand beside her bed, and launched it at Vincent. He side-stepped the projectile and it shattered when it hit the wall.

"I was drinking that," Cloud pointed out for no purpose other than wanting to speak.

"You fucking bastard!" Tessa screamed at Vincent. "You bastards entered my mind? My memories? And you let _him_ violate me again? I swear, if I had a gun, Xu wouldn't be the only one dead right now. Why the fuck would you do that?"

"I thought he should see what he had been so angry with." Vincent responded with a rare show of sadness. "Perhaps I was wrong to do that."

"So, I take you know that I'm just a clone, then?" Tessa finally found the strength to look at Fujin. The one-eyed woman still hadn't spoken, and she looked away when Tessa tried to meet her gaze.

Standing up was difficult, since it had been awhile since her legs hadn't been used. It hadn't been so long that atrophy had set in, but the muscles had become accustomed to not being used. So she ended up leaning on Cloud for initial support. He just sat there until she got her bearings. The blond man evidently had no intent on diffusing whatever was about to happen.

She fell to the floor halfway to her destination, crying out in shock as her knees slammed into the cold linoleum. She still looked up. "So what if I'm just a soulless copy? A shell with nothing inside? I don't give a fucking damn."

The two men watched with interest as she regained her footing and made her way over to Fujin, grabbing hold of the other girl's shoulders for support when Tessa reached her. They also saw Fujin flinch at the touch. Then Tessa began to caress Fujin's face with one of her hands, the one eye the older girl possessed firmly on the floor.

"Tell me… as the real one, do you feel complete? Whole? Do you view me as an abomination, a perversion? Or am I just nothing?" Tessa ran her fingers over the eyepatch, pulling away the soft fabric to reveal the scarred tissue. Cloud shuddered involuntarily when Tessa gently touched that as well. "Perhaps… do you see yourself somewhere in this heartless bitch?"

Fujin's eye finally met Tessa's. For the first time, someone aside from the two of them noticed just how alike the two appeared. The time Tessa had spent in confinement had allowed her hair to grow out, showing off its silvery origins. Tessa's hand stopped travelling the contours of Fujin's face and made its way to the back of her head, touching the sensitive ears that the young girl herself possessed. Then she leaned in and their lips met.

Cloud looked away. For some reason, he couldn't bring himself to watch this. He'd stood there as Aerith died, eyes locked onto her, and he'd watched countless other loved ones leave him, but he could not see an intimacy that went far deeper than anything he'd shared with Aerith or Tifa.

Even Vincent found himself compared to fix his glance elsewhere for the duration of the act. And when it ended, he saw that Tessa was smiling while Fujin shook.

"Antessence? Tessa?" the shooter asked. "Fujin?"

The younger of the two women looked at him and shook her head. "Who are they? My name is Alex."

"Really?" Cloud asked, unsure of what else to say.

Then the girl burst out laughing. "Fuck no. Dumbasses, I'm telling you."

Fujin pushed Tessa away and ran from the room, throwing the door open with so much force that the glass in it shattered. Dr. Welsh popped her head in and saw Tessa sitting on the floor laughing.

"How did she get loose? What happened here?" the physician asked. Cloud shrugged and Vincent knelt beside Tessa's amused form.

Before an answer could be given, some anonymous student appeared behind the redheaded woman. "Dr. Welsh! Someone is asking for you."

"Who is it?" the woman snapped.

"It's Instructor Trepe. She's back, and she's waiting for you in Matron's office."

Tessa immediately stopped laughing.

---

Quistis wrung her hands nervously. She looked at Hunter, at his sullen face. They'd barely managed to escape from the GMS alive, they should've been happy to get away, but it had come at a cost. She'd decided to sacrifice Eisis in order to save herself and her student.

He'd fought her initially, but Quistis had reasoned that there was no way to get to the young woman and get away. Yes, at first she'd tried to find the poor girl, but the further they went into the underground base, the stronger the magic she began to sense.

Then, like a coward, she turned and fled.

Hunter followed her, believing that she had locked onto Eisis, but really she was searching for an exit. And when they spilled out into the sunlight, he turned to go back. Quistis held him and blasted the roof of the entrance, collapsing the tunnel in an attempt to delay the mages who were surely after them. The boy screamed at her that they had to return, they had to save Eisis. She ignored him and began looking for the Ragnarok.

Now he refused to speak to her. And she couldn't get out of her mind the men and women she had electrocuted and impaled with frozen spears in her escape, the lives she had cut short. She'd declared war on the GMS to save Eisis, and then left the girl for dead.

"Quistis…"

For what was probably the first time ever, the blonde woman found herself holding up a hand to silence the former Sorceress. "Please, don't. There's something you need to know. I'm not human. I'm a…"

"…Wingly," the older woman finished. Quistis looked up in surprise. "Yes, I am aware of your heritage. Your parents explained it all to me when they left you in my care. I did not tell the Trepe family your secrets when they adopted you. Perhaps I should have."

Again, a long silence lingered as Quistis thought of what to say. She couldn't, though. There was nothing to say.

"I would like to be given a team of highly trained SeeDs and someone who can pilot the Ragnarok to Goblin Island."

Both women looked at Hunter. He'd been silent and moody ever since the return to the Garden.

"Your request is denied." Edea said. She turned back to Quistis, ignoring the anger on the young man's face. "Things did not go as intended."

It wasn't a question.

The Instructor explained the situation as it stood, and the Headmistress listened intently.

"You are at war with the great Mage Society." Edea mused and looked at the SeeD. "I am afraid I cannot offer you sanctuary. Garden's are neutral in these matters."

Despite the fact that she had been half-expecting that reaction, Quistis still felt hurt.

"However, I do have an assignment for you. It has several stipulations."

She was being given a job after being told that she couldn't count on Garden to back her up? Quistis pondered this development as Edea slid a manila folder to her.

The SeeD picked it up and opened it. After reading the first few sentences, she dropped it as though she had been burnt.

"Shinra has come to Garden, requesting aid in killing a Sorceress?"

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A/N: Yeah, written in one night. And do not ask what the whole "Tessa kissing Fujin" thing is all about, because I have no idea. None at all.


	18. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

A/N: -scratches head- So, um… What can I say about this chapter? What can I say… Just let me know if you read the author's notes by putting the word "horseradish" somewhere in your review. Just a fun, pointless little game.

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Unsure of when exactly she first experienced this particular scenario, Tessa watched the people below her scurry either into the Garden or the wooden buildings they had crafted over the past few weeks. Most opted for the safety of the academy. Rain was on the way, and the young men and women who had worked so hard had produced shoddy results. The worthless bastards had no training in construction, and the old people had only a select few who knew what the hell they were doing.

Heavy winds threatened to blow the cigarette from Tessa's fingers. She didn't care. Her life had come to the point where her smoke breaks had become more of an excuse to get away from the hated people than a real need for nicotine. In fact, she hadn't taken more than the initial drag to light the thing.

"You really shouldn't be out here. You might catch a cold."

Tessa snorted. A cold was the last thing she needed to worry about. She didn't even give a damn as to whether or not she came down with pneumonia and died.

"Go away," she warned. She really wasn't in the mood for Nida. She knew without having to look that it was the pilot. It took every bit of self-restraint she had to keep from slugging him that second.

"You'll want to hear this."

Sighing, she turned around and leaned back against the railing. Small drops of water began to fall. "Seriously, go the fuck away."

Nida didn't listen. "I… I'm sorry. When Ellone showed us the things in your mind… The things you had to live through… I don't blame you for Xu's death. You were sick."

"Come here." Tessa beckoned the young man forward with her finger. He approached her. She stood on her tiptoes, lips brushing against his ear. One hand began to play with his hair. Her voice was dropped to a low, sultry tone. "Is that what you really think? You think that I'm all better now? That I'll choose you and that we'll have another baby?"

She took his earlobe into her mouth, sucking on it gently. Nida began to groan. Then he began to scream. Tessa bit down and jerked, pulling away a large portion of the soft flesh. Ignoring the coppery taste that lingered in her mouth, she spat the earlobe onto the floor.

"You really did think that!" she accused after Nida pushed her away, holding his ear with both hands. Unfortunately, that left him open. She nailed him in the jaw with a right hook. While he was stunned, she reached up and grabbed a handful of hair. Then she slammed his face into the railing. Once. Twice. After the third impact, the girl grabbed him by the belt and used what strength she had to hoist him over the railing. He hung limply for a few seconds, and then began to fight her, but it was too late. After blindly kicking Tessa in the face, Nida found his side blossoming in pain as he realized he had been stabbed. The pilot looked back and saw that a fork, one of those used in the cafeteria, had pierced his skin.

The last thing he saw was a boot fly at his own face. Cursing, Tessa grabbed one of his legs and flipped him the rest of the way over the railing. She didn't even wait to hear the impact of his body hitting the ground.

Picking up her cigarette from where it had fallen on the floor, Tessa left behind the "secret spot" or whatever the fuck the people that lived in the Garden called it. She much preferred the Training Centre to its hidden alcove for lovesick assholes. Besides, she had to get ready to leave soon.

---

Ellone watched as the Ragnarok departed. The girl with the green hair, the one that she had met when she'd first arrived at Trabia Garden, was gone already. After what had happened with her and her… "friend," Ellone didn't blame her for wanting to get away.

It was getting to be about time for her to go back to Esthar, anyway. She'd done what she'd come to the Garden to do. And now that her friends were all either gone or dead, there wasn't any reason for her to remain.

She'd attempted to convince Edea to return to Esthar with her, to bring all of the refugees, but the woman had declined. The headmistress had claimed that her students, and the people with them, needed to learn to stand on their own and not need to be rescued. The brunette girl didn't really understand, so she'd gone to see Quistis and the others off.

As she approached the large mobile academy, Ellone heard something. At first, she'd thought that it might have been a monster, but the patrol had passed by not five minutes prior. Besides, it was still wet from the rain earlier that day. The monsters in the Balamb area preferred to attack when conditions were drier. Unless you were at the shore, but this island didn't have any beach to speak of.

Curious, she approached. If it really was a monster, then she'd just run and alert the nearest SeeD or student of the academy and they'd take care of it.

It was no monster, though.

"Nida!" she gasped as she saw the young man crawling in her direction. They'd met a few times, but she'd never developed a close relationship with the pilot. To call them friends was a stretch. But she was kind enough of a person that she couldn't leave him in the condition she had found him.

He was covered with blood and soaked. The blood didn't look fresh, though. Had he been left outside, wounded, during that awful storm? He face was scratched up and one arm was bent off at an angle that be described as "awkward" in the most gentle of terms. His legs didn't seem as though they were up to working, either, which was why he was propelling himself through the underbrush with his one good hand, which was also covered with blood. The skin on it also seemed to be peeling away.

"Hyne… I'll go get help," she told him as she leaned down to touch his face reassuringly. Then he bit her palm. The skin broke and she cried out in pain. After he had tore her flesh free from her body, Ellone jerked her hand to her chest and ran. She called out for help as her hand began to stain her clothing.

Eventually, she stumbled upon a young girl with black hair and a SeeD uniform. On her hip was a pistol in a holster.

"You… you have to help me…" Ellone sobbed as she continued to cradle her bleeding hand against her chest. She wasn't used to being injured, to feeling this kind of pain. Even when she'd been captured by Seifer and Adel during the Sorceress War, she'd been treated as though she would break at the slightest hiccup.

"What is it?" the girl asked, her eyes locked onto Ellone's hand.

"It's Nida. He's… there's something wrong with him." Ellone fought her tears and exhaustion for breath. She was afraid that she might begin hyperventilating. "He looks like he's been through hell. And when I tried to help him he… he bit me!"

The SeeD sighed sadly as she retrieved her pistol from its holster. "You're sure he bit you?" Ellone nodded. The girl asked where he was. After giving the information, Ellone found herself staring down the end of the pistol. "I'm sorry, but you've been infected."

Both bodies were buried the next day.

---

Quistis put the coordinates she had been given into the airship's computer. To be honest, the autopilot was probably better at flying the thing better than she was, anyway. She'd asked one of the Estharian engineer's once how the technology worked, but it was far too complex for her to comprehend. Her expertise wasn't in software or hardware. She was a fighter, and a teacher. Quistis Trepe was far from a technological genius.

Or was it Quistis Vance?

Shaking the thought from her mind, the SeeD stood up and left the cockpit. It wasn't time to think about that. She had a mission she had to concentrate on. Never mind that it was one where the only details given were the employer and the objective. Shinra wanted her to kill a Sorceress. Her, specifically. And it also requested that Antessence and Fujin come as well.

It seemed like a trap, and Matron had agreed, but they'd taken it nonetheless. Nobody had ever found out why the power company had kidnapped the small group of survivors from Balamb when they'd been out on that boat.

As she activated the elevator to go down, Quistis remembered the things she had seen and done after awaking in Junon. All the people that had died. How Irvine had died. She clutched at her heart as she fought back a sob. Enough crying had been done. He wouldn't want her to spend the rest of her life pining, wanting something he could never have. Even though he was with one of her best friends, Irvine had still wanted the blonde Instructor. She didn't even remember the details of just how they'd become involved. But she vividly recalled the nights they had spent together when Selphie had been out on a mission, or whenever they'd been lucky enough to be assigned one together.

Quistis was far from perfect. She'd fallen in love with her best friend's all-but-husband and they'd carried on an affair. Idly, she wondered if Selphie knew what they'd done. If she'd ever suspected. The little bombshell had frequently attacked other resident of Balamb Garden just because Irvine had flirted with them. It had been quite the problem, actually. But neither Irvine nor Quistis felt that it was right to call her down on it when they were perpetrating the very thing Selphie was afraid of. But if she did know, if in that afterlife everything became clear and secrets were exposed, how would she react?

---

It had been hard. Not killing Nida, as Tessa had found that refreshingly easy. Leaving Renea behind had been hard. Not because she'd fallen in love with the girl with the green hair, but because she was leaving the only person who had actually bothered to care about her well-being in the forsaken hole.

She'd told Renea to forget. Act as though Tessa had never been there, as if she had never existed. Because, somewhere, she knew that she wouldn't be coming back. She was like a cancer patient waiting for the moment her heart finally stopped beating. Except she was the cancer. She was the killer. Tessa was the thing that infected humanity, and her disease spread like a wildfire.

Hell, she'd just killed someone in cold blood, and she didn't feel bad. There was no trace of guilt. In fact, she'd enjoyed it. To even think about it brought a smile to her face. And the most disturbing thing was that it didn't disturb her.

"What the fuck are you looking at?"

Tessa narrowed her eyes in Fujin's direction. She didn't know why the other girl was on the ship. Hell, she didn't know why _she_ was on it. The red-eyed girl wasn't even in the SeeD program anymore. Yet, Instructor Trepe had asked her to come, and she'd agreed. Because she was afraid of disappointing Quistis.

In addition to the three women, there were also three men. A party of six. Hunter had come along, despite Tessa's protests. And whenever she asked him where his bitch was, he just looked away and clenched his hands. She knew that it had upset him, her question, so she kept pressing it until Quistis had asked her to stop.

The other two, Vincent and Cloud, Tessa suspect that they were coming to keep an eye on her. Well, Vincent, anyway. Cloud had expressed his boredom about having nothing but the monsters in the Training Centre to kill rather vocally. But Tessa was still of the opinion that Vincent had been involved in getting Cloud to come along. He was probably the person on the aircraft who disliked her the most. Why spend an entire trip with her just to get a chance to kill things?

Speaking of which, Tessa wondered just what the mission was. She'd hadn't been given any details, and Quistis had evaded the question whenever Tessa asked her.

"Quit looking at me before I come over there and break your fucking jaw," Tessa snapped at Fujin again. The eye never changed its position, though. It stayed glued on Tessa. Pissed off for no reason other than she wanted to be, Tessa rose to her feet. "What is it? You didn't get enough yesterday? You actually want to fuck me? Here and now?"

She began another trademark rant: tearing the silent warrior a new one until someone put a hand on her shoulder. Tessa jerked free and didn't even bother to look as she backhanded whomever it was that had dared to touch her.

"If anyone else lays a finger on me, I'll… Oh, shit! I'm so sorry!" The startled looks on Cloud and Hunter were ignored. Tessa knelt next to Quistis, uttering a string of incoherent apologies. "Oh god, I'm so sorry. I just… I…"

Nothing was said by the victim of the unprovoked attack until she was standing up. Then she pulled Tessa into a hug, whispering words of forgiveness into the apologetic girl's ear. "Why don't we go up to the cockpit? We can talk."

After the two had left, Cloud asked if the scene had really happened. Silence reigned supreme.

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A/N: Oh my god! Tessa has a redeeming quality! I can't believe it. I mean, yeah, she did kind of kill Nida for no reason other than she wanted to, but in the same chapter she apologizes for hitting Quistis. I made her even more of a monster and humanized her within a span of 2500 words!

Yeah, this is a dark place for Tessa. She's not insane. Everything she does is in full awareness and she's under her own control. Her behaviour is becoming more erratic and violent, and she seems to have little in way of regrets. So I do feel that it's appropriate to label her as one of the "Bad guys," so to speak. I mean, even with her past, there's no excuse for her behaviour. But I do love how much an influence Quistis continues to have over her to this day.

Maybe now the title of the fic is starting have some meaning. ;)


	19. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

A/N: Well, thanks to the horseradish people. I love you guys. And to the ones who don't know what I'm talking about, you're probably not reading this anyway. :P Regardless, I felt that it deserved mentioning that Quistis still doesn't know anything about the whole miscarriage/fake memories/going insane things that Tessa has been going through.

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"I really am sorry, you know."

Quistis didn't say anything. She didn't know what to say. When she'd walked into the cabin to find Tessa screaming and throwing threats of extreme violence, she wasn't surprised. Up until the day she had left with Hunter and Eisis, she'd sensed that the young woman was going through something. She had just attributed it to the pregnancy. Really, though, Quistis was just hiding behind that as an excuse. She didn't want to worry about Tessa. She didn't want to care. The Instructor wanted to disassociate herself from the menace. All she'd cared about was her precious image.

Tessa wasn't evil.

Not that it excused what the former Garden student had done. She'd gotten into fights, rejected authority, and harassed people who wanted absolutely nothing more than to help her. Tessa had been a downright rotten example of humanity. But that didn't mean that she was evil. No, she was hurting, and lashed out at the world because she must not have been able to do it to whomever it was that had hurt her.

Quistis had seen all of this and ignored it. Yet, somehow, even after running away to Goblin Island, she found herself sitting in the cockpit of the Ragnarok with Tessa. Her face still stung from where she'd been struck, but what hurt even worse was the pain she'd glimpsed behind Tessa's eyes when the girl had apologized. And, without a second thought, she'd hugged her and taken her away from the others, away from the people who openly despised her.

Well, perhaps not all of them disliked Tessa. Vincent had tried to act as a mentor to the teen on more than one occasion, but it had always backfired. And she had no idea what Fujin's thought were on her.

To be honest, Quistis didn't know anything about Fujin. Even though they had lived in the same Garden for years, she didn't even know the one-eyed woman's last name. So it wasn't just Tessa she'd been acted superior around. How many other people had been hurt by her callous behaviour? And all this time she'd thought of herself as a kind and giving person.

"I know." Quistis looked at the various switches and knobs on the high-tech airship. She hadn't a clue what half of them were for, but it didn't really matter. It was another thing to concentrate on, as opposed to the people around her. The blonde Instructor managed to summon up enough willpower to look at Tessa. "What I don't know is why."

The confused look on Tessa's face only served to further humanize the young woman, and that in turn helped Quistis to demonize herself. "What the fuck are you talking about, Instructor Trepe?"

Biting back the urge to comment on the girl's language, Quistis inquired as to why she warranted an apology. Why was she so deserving of such a simple act when nobody else ever had ever been considered?

"It's… never mind," Quistis told Tessa as she turned once more to the many bells and whistles on the Ragnarok. "We should be landing soon, so you'd best buckle up."

---

Something was missing. Cloud Strife didn't know what, but he knew something was off about the company he was keeping. Yes, they were the ones he had escaped from Junon with, but there was something else…

_Junon_. That was it. This wasn't the same group that had left. Indeed, all of these people had been there during the escape, but not everyone that had been there was on the airship. Cid was off, first to attend to Shera, and then to seek shelter at the Golden Saucer, with its desert and location in the middle of nowhere as protection. Not to mention the fact that the bulk of it was so far off the ground.

There was another one, though. _She_ wasn't there. The last time he'd seen her had been when she'd gone off on her trip. She left with Quistis and that young kid. The same kid who was sitting across from him.

"Hey."

As if recognizing that he was being addressed, the boy looked at Cloud, his line of sight leaving the floor. His eyes appeared to be dead. Not red like those ambulatory corpses. No, there just wasn't any discernable sign of life from the orbs. Cloud changed his focus, instead concentrating on the restless hands in the boy's lap. Those eyes just felt too familiar. In more ways than one.

"Where's your little… friend?" the mercenary asked the boy. For a fraction of a second, something flashed in the boy's eyes. Then they were once again lifeless.

"Her name is… was Eisis," he told Cloud. The blond man saw out of the corner of his eye that he was being watched by Vincent. That girl, Fujin, she seemed to be off in her own little world at the moment.

"That doesn't answer my question." Even though it had. Cloud had heard the use of past tense. He knew what that undoubtedly meant. And he also knew that Vincent knew what he was thinking. Damned mysterious semi-dead guy that he was, Vincent had probably prepared some way of interrupting the conversation should things go in a direction that he didn't like. "Where is A… Where is Eisis?"

"Why is her location your concern?" the little brat replied coldly. He didn't seem to have caught Cloud's slip. Although, Vincent must have.

Fighting the urge to pull out his sword and hold it at the child's throat while demanding answers, Cloud instead chose to hang his head in much the same way the pale young man had before.

He'd lost it. His chance… His opportunity to seek forgiveness for being too weak to save her… It was ripped away. Did it really matter if her name were different? If she acted different? Was it important for her to be exactly the same? It wasn't just because the Eisis girl looked like her. No, she also _felt_ just like her. He was being drawn in by some unknown force, some higher power. He was going to get his chance to apologize, to tell her how much he regretted his inability to save her. He was going to get to tell her how much he cared. He was going to tell her, before he lost her again, that he loved her.

But she was gone. And with her had gone his one moment for redemption.

---

He stood watching. There was nothing for him here. Everyone, everyone that had come, they had their grudges. They had their reasons for making the trip, even if they didn't know the destination. He was just an observer. He was watching them all grow: the heroes, the saviours, and even the villains. They had all been touched by something greater, something more. And he hadn't.

He thought he had. When she was there, at his side, he believed that he had achieved that level above himself. He had become something more. But standing there, in the clearing of dirt and stone, surrounded by the dying trees and these heroes and villains, he knew he hadn't. She was that great thing. She was a level above him. And he hadn't realized it until she was gone. The one responsible for taking his greatness away, for taking her away, was also the one he had followed to this place. This moment. They had all led him here. They were all great in some way. He wasn't.

Why hadn't he thought about this before? He was a man of three lives. One was so long ago; it was like it wasn't even him anymore. It was different person. This boy, for he had been but a boy in this life, he too had someone great. Someone who had been his wonderful thing. She too was gone, taken from him by someone else. The same one who taken another. But she had come back, while his wonderful thing hadn't. Perhaps that was why he had chased her, chased the one who had returned. He must have thought he could regain her glory through another. He might have regained himself.

But she left. She left him, and he followed. Because all he knew how to do was follow. He followed her to another land, to another life. A life in which he tried to forget by taking anything he was offered. A life in which he sought the only thing he couldn't have. A life that wasn't his. A life which was more a fallacy than the one before it. While his first life didn't seem real upon reflection, his second wasn't even capable of being a dream. Or, more accurately, a nightmare.

Thus, he found himself in this life. This life in which he had found, and again lost, greatness. He had lost her. It was at once like and unlike losing _her_. Like losing his first love.

So he stood there silently. He stood waiting for the end. For the beginning. Even if it was only an interlude, he would wait. Because he was weak. Because he wasn't great. He would do little more than wait for the heroes and the villains to act. He would wait for them to play their parts. They were leaders. They were strong.

As they all reached their greatness, their level above him, he waited.

---

Tessa was unsure of what was happening. There was going to be something, something decisive. It was in the wind, it was in the earth below, it was in everything. In everything except for her. In the distance, she could see the Ragnarok, like a giant dragon. They had left it behind and walked through a forest, a dead forest, to this clearing.

In the distance, she could hear it. Her eyes scanned the sky. And just like the one she had once used as an escape, a helicopter appeared above the clearing. And it came down, landing before them. It came bore an insignia that made her blood run cold. One that she had known would never leave her. She looked over at Fujin, trying to gauge her reaction. Then she looked at Quistis. Surely, she had not done this. She couldn't have known. But she was the one who had brought her. It could be Cid, though. He had left them in a helicopter very much like this one.

But it wasn't the old man who descended from the chopper. It was a blond, and he was older, but it wasn't him. It was a man in a motorized wheelchair. He wore an eye patch, and in his wake followed two men. They both wore dark blue, almost black, business suits. Tessa knew those suits. Again, she looked at Quistis. The blonde woman didn't look the least bit shocked.

"I must say, I was surprised that you agreed to come. Especially after the last encounter you had with my company." The blond man wheeled his way over to them. He looked directly at Tessa, but then changed his view to Fujin. His eyes narrowed. "You must be Alex. I'm afraid I must apologize for what happened to you. It was not my doing, but I bear the responsibility, nonetheless. I may have been away while my father and his lackey's abused you, but I could have stopped it. I apologize."

Everyone stared at Fujin. Nobody knew why the strange blond man in the wheelchair was apologizing to Fujin. Nobody except for Tessa and Vincent. He had been in her mind with Ellone and Nida, and he had been a Turk once upon a time. He too had worn the dark blue, almost black, suit. He had also known things. But had he been in the employ of Shinra when she was…

Tessa looked at Vincent.

"Now, about why you're here," he again looked at Tessa, with his gaze eventually drifting over her and settling on Hunter. "Has Miss Trepe told you all why you're here?"

"No, she hasn't, Mr. Shinra," Cloud said with a cold voice. Tessa looked over at Cloud, and her eyes again settled on Quistis. Nobody else knew. So was it possible Quistis hadn't known as well? Was it possible that she didn't know? But he, this man, he had acted as though she did know. But Quistis wouldn't have brought her here if she knew. She wouldn't have!

"Please, I prefer Rufus."

"I don't give a damn."

Then Quistis spoke. Tessa's eyes were locked onto her lips as every word was formed. "So, Rufus, is it? You asked me to come here to kill a Sorceress. You hand-picked the people I brought. So, tell me where she is. Who is she?"

It happened. Tessa screamed. She backed away from the Instructor, horror etched on her face. Her cries were incoherent. Her hands tore at her face, her hair. It couldn't be real.

"Antessence!" Quistis cried as she looked at her student. "What's wrong?"

"You didn't know! Please tell me you didn't know. You didn't bring me here. You couldn't have. Tell me, damn you. Tell me that you didn't fucking know!"

"Know what?" Quistis cried over Tessa's accusations.

"You knew we were coming here to see _him_, didn't you?" Tessa screamed as she pointed at Rufus. Her face was drenched. No rain fell, but you couldn't tell to look at her cheeks.

Quistis nodded dumbly. She obviously didn't know what distressed the young woman. That hurt even worse than the confession.

"You… I…" Tessa screamed at the ground. She couldn't face Quistis. Not after how she learned she had been betrayed. She had been sold out for some information on a Sorceress. And not just her. Quistis had given up Fujin and Hunter, too. But they didn't matter. Nobody else had mattered. Nobody but this woman. This woman who had just shown that she didn't give a damn about Tessa. "Fuck you!"

Before she knew it, Vincent was on the ground and her knuckles stung. In her uninjured hand, she held his gun. It had three barrels. And they were all trained on Quistis.

"You bitch! I thought you cared about me. If no one else, at least I mattered to you! But clearly I don't. I'm nothing. I'm not even as good as the shit on you boot, am I?" Tessa shouted as she waved the firearm haphazardly. "I didn't care about anyone else. I gave up the only person that cared about me because you asked me to come. Damn you!"

Tessa continued to cry, the tears blurring her vision. But she wasn't crying over Renea, or how she had told the girl to forget about her. She didn't cry over the look on Renea's face when Tessa told her that she'd already forgotten the green-haired girl. She didn't cry over those memories. And she didn't cry for Quistis. No, Tessa cried for herself. She cried because no one gave a damn about her. She cried because she didn't even give a damn about herself.

The she pulled the trigger. There was an echo that followed the explosion. Blood covered the ground. The onlookers watched in awe as the body crumpled to the ground. Tessa dropped the gun and screamed again as she fell to her knees. She hadn't meant to. She didn't want to.

---

Cold. Everything was cold. He held his hand to his chest and a woman loomed over him. The same woman who had stolen his wonderful thing. She looked down at him, broken, and then looked off at something else. There was a sound. He couldn't make it out.

He was surprised by his actions. He hadn't followed. Nothing had led him to this moment. He had done it. He still wasn't great. He still wasn't wonderful. But he felt like he had finally… had finally…

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A/N: Why don't these chapters ever end the way I want them to?


	20. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

A/N: After the events of the last chapter, I felt it pertinent to let it be known that the ending I had initially planned for the fic, way back when I was first drafting Resurrection, has been totally shot. However, I have crafted a new one. So, yeah, it means absolutely nothing to you guys, since you have no idea how it's going to end anyway.

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Finger's twitched. It could have been dismissed as a spasm, but she knew better. She knew better but she didn't care. She didn't care as the gun was ripped from her hand, or when Vincent fired the shot that kept the idiot from rising again. She did know better. She always knew better. She didn't care when they had held her down. All she had done was laugh. Her cold joviality had rung out as Quistis turned away from her. Because, deep down, she had known better. She had known better than to think that there was someone who could really love her.

---

"She is clearly a danger."

Quistis looked in Tessa's direction. Vincent and Cloud stood watch over her. As sure of himself as he had been that he could break through her exterior, Vincent clearly wasn't sure enough of himself to face her unarmed. Just as Cloud bore his sword on her, Vincent had his gun trained on the teenage girl. Even he had given up.

"Leave her in our care. We will deal with her." The man, Rufus Shinra, he wasn't even watching Tessa as he spoke of her. Instead, he focused on Fujin. His eye watched the girl as she stood over Hunter's corpse. "We know how to handle problems."

"She isn't a problem. She isn't something to be 'dealt with'," the Instructor looked past Cloud and Vincent. She looked at the young woman, the frightened girl, the lonely child. She saw Tessa. She finally saw Tessa for what she truly was. Quistis was afraid. She was afraid that the girl was finally too far gone, too far out of reach. That she was beyond all hope.

"Is she?" She looked at the man, his eyes still glued on Fujin. "Tell me, Miss Trepe, has this young girl ever mentioned Alex?"

Alex? Wasn't that what he had called Fujin when he'd first arrived? "Who is Alex?"

"She is the beginning of all this. She is the cause of the end of the world. No, not the cause. But she is the catalyst. She set everything in motion. But she is also the only one who can save it. Before she can do that, though, she must face herself. Alex must face every part of her. She must even come to terms with those parts of herself that she views as foreign. The thing that she desperately wishes to deny existence. Alex doesn't even wish death for this part of her, for she views it as a nothing. And perhaps she is right. But nothing is what everything sees when it looks in the mirror."

"Perhaps you would've made a better philosopher than corporate executive."

"Familial duty is a powerful adversary. Wouldn't you agree?"

The blond and the blonde continued to stare at the two girls: the girls who were at once exactly the same and also completely different.

"What do you know?"

"I know many things. My company is powerful, and it gives me eyes and ears all across the world. If a butterfly beats its wings, I don't have to wait for the hurricane, Miss Vance."

Quistis finally tore her eyes from Tessa. They focused on Hunter's body. Somebody, she hadn't seen who, had covered what remained of his face with a jacket. Someone had cared enough about the boy to preserve his dignity. But it hadn't been she. And nobody else here knew him. Nobody except Antessence. She knew it hadn't been the girl, though. She hadn't moved from her invisible cell.

"So, you know that as well." It wasn't a question. Nor was there confirmation given. "You never answered my question."

"About what I know?"

She shook her head as she continued to watch Hunter's lifeless form. "No, before that. Before he died, I had asked where she was going. Where is the Sorceress going to be?"

"She is coming here. She is coming here because this is the key. This is the spot where the Centra had once built a great city, as the followers of Hyne tell. But it is not true. There was no city here. Rather, there was a tree."

"A tree?"

"The tree," Rufus said as he continued to watch Fujin silently stand vigil for Hunter. "This is where the Tree of Life had once flourished. And this is where Hyne destroyed it. And Soa cared not, for it was just another toy. That's all we are, too. We're toys for children who play god. Humans, Winglies, Sorceress… We might as well be dolls to beings like them.

"Some might claim that we're chess pieces. They might claim that there is a war going on between the gods, and that this is their battlefield of choice. But I don't think so. I think they've grown bored with us. They have new toys. Be it another world, another universe, I don't know. All I have is what I believe."

"What do you believe, Mr. President?" Quistis listened to him speak. She was not enraptured by or in awe of his intellect.

"I believe that people strive for perfection to try to get the attention of those children. Some change how they look, others how they act, and then there are those like us."

"Those who search for power."

Rufus smiled. "That's quite astute of you, Miss Trepe. Or does Vance suit you better?"

"My name is Quistis." She changed focus again, concentrating once more on Tessa. "And as much sense as your theory makes, there are flaws in it. What of those who live not for others, but for themselves? And what of those who live not even for themselves? What of those people who live only because they know no other alternative?

"You assume that everyone is striving for perfection, Rufus. Perfect bodies, perfect personalities, and even perfect power. But there are people out there who do not. There are people who live day to day, moment to moment, second to second with no plan, no schedule, and no need to search for perfection. What of people who have given up on it, and those who don't need it?"

"Those are people to be pitied. Because when one stops wanting, then they might as well cease to exist."

She looked at the blond man with a small smile on her lips. "Enough of that. You said that this Sorceress is coming here because this is where the Tree of Life was. But that is a Junonian legend. Sorceresses are the descendents of Hyne. Putting aside your theory, what plausible reason would she have for coming here?"

"Because she knows what I know. And she wishes to be the one to usher in the end of the world as we know it. She wants to be the one to summon the Millen Dragon. Indeed, she is the key to opening the door. But what she doesn't know is that more keys can be made."

"What does that mean?"

Again, Rufus smiled, his eye on Fujin. He touched his chest. "It means that you have a job to do."

---

The wind played with Fujin's hair. Before her lay a boy. More accurately, it was the dead body of a boy. A boy who had given up his life to save someone else. She touched her own cheek. She had never known the boy. She had never even made the effort to get to know him, not even after learning that he knew Alex.

Alex…

Before she had become the woman she was now, Fujin had known Alex. She had watched as the girl was tortured. She had watched as they removed her eye after it had turned red during the night. One night filled with just as many needles and scalpels as the others.

Fujin had watched as Alex died. She watched as someone else, someone new was born in her stead. Fujin had watched as she herself from grown from her own ashes, like a Phoenix. But in all her time, Fujin had not met Hunter Vance until just a few months prior to his death.

She didn't want to look. There was no facing the girl who had killed the boy. She did not want to stare into those eyes so like the ones Alex had possessed. Fujin did not want to see those lips that Alex had screamed out of. There was no longing to glimpse the soul of one who understood Alex's torture.

This boy, that girl, somehow they knew Alex. But Alex did not know them. Fujin did not know them. They were strangers.

Her hand left her cheek. It moved up her face, caressing the patch that hid the disfiguring scar that Alex had inflicted upon her. For the first time in her life, Fujin found herself mourning Alex. Not because she missed her, but because she was gone. Just like this boy, this foolish boy, Alex was dead. And nothing, not even the T-virus, could bring her back. Too much damage had been done. The brain was destroyed. There was nothing left: nothing at all.

The urge to scream rose into her throat. Fujin fought it down. There was no need to scream. There was nothing to say. Everything was beyond words, so in their place the words left nothing. And nothing did what nothing did best.

---

As those gathered mused on the world and their places in it, two figures watched them from the sky. One had long red hair pulled back into a ponytail, his bangs spiked up except for the few wild strands that spilled onto his face. The other was a blonde woman. She was dressed provocatively, well past her age. Behind her hand, she hid her mouthed as she chuckled.

A surprise party had been arranged. And she was the guest of honour. Well, there was no need to disappoint.

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A/N: Yes, I am aware that this chapter is significantly shorter than the last one. In fact, it doesn't even make up 2000 words. But I've always been a firm believer in quality over quantity where this story is concerned. This is why I have to say that I believe this story will most likely end in less than five chapters.

And, in addition to that, I will be losing my home internet for what is hopefully only a couple of months. I still fully intend to see this fiction through to the end, however, so you, dear readers, need not worry that I'll find some other way to occupy my time.


	21. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

A/N: Here it is, the final chapter of _Redemption_. I figured that, rather than several small chapters dragging it out, I would end this story with one chapter. Not to say that there won't be the final author's notes explaining some of my decision process and alternate ways the story could have gone.

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It didn't start with a warning. Nobody descended dramatically, offering words and throwing threats. There was no indication that it was coming until it was over.

Quistis gently touched a burn on her arm. She didn't even sense the attack until it hit. A thunderbolt, one much larger than any she had ever seen before, had struck Shinra's helicopter. And the representatives of the corporation were little more than charred meat. Even Rufus Shinra had been reduced to a twisted mass of roasted flesh and melted steel.

"Pitiful little man. He thought I didn't know. He thought that he could steal my destiny from me."

A middle-aged woman with blonde hair left the sky, electricity crackling around her. A red-haired man followed in her wake. He caught the Instructor's eye and winked.

She, the woman, knelt in front of Rufus's body, looking up into what had once been his face. Her smile was cool. Her demeanour relaxed. The way she acted, it was almost as though she hadn't known that she'd killed one of the most powerful men in the world.

"Why, Mr. President, it's been awhile. I believe the last time I saw you was when you gave me this." A hand in a slender glove, blue to match the dress she wore, reached out and seemed to caress the cooked flesh. Until she gave a yank. The corpse's neck gave and the head fell to the ground.

As much as she wanted to, Quistis did not turn her head. She watched the strange woman with hair her own colour: it was even the same shade. She watched the woman as she held up a necklace with a large blue stone. Then the woman held out her free hand and the stone exploded.

"Now that that's out of the way…" the woman looked at Quistis, her eyes narrowed. "Miss Trepe, how nice to finally meet you. I'm surprised that your path and mine hadn't crossed before. It's a shame that it had to be on this day. I would have loved to have chatted with you. You seem quite intelligent."

Then another large lightning bolt flew, aimed at the SeeD. She managed to jump out of the way just in time, but came down on her scorched arm. She cried out in pain.

Someone clapped. Immediately, Quistis looked at the man that had accompanied the woman, but he just smirked. As much as she knew she would regret it, Quistis peered at her second guess. And she was right.

"Nice work." Tessa continued to clap as she stood up. Cloud raised his sword even higher, but didn't stop the girl as she passed him. "I must say, you seem to be much better at this than you were in Junon. You have the crazy bitch persona down almost perfectly. Of course, you're not as good at it as I am, but I'm sure that you'll be the best after you kill me. I'm Tessa, if you don't remember"

"Ah, Miss Matleo, how nice to see you again. You do seem a bit different. But it is reassuring that you know you're going to lose."

"Lose? I don't plan on losing, Scarlet," Tessa eyed Quistis hatefully while the Instructor continued to lie on the ground. "See, losing means that I'm going to try to fight you. Something I have no interest in doing. I don't care anymore. I have nothing left to live for. Therefore, there is no reason for a fight."

"Defeat looks good on you," the blonde woman, Scarlet, chuckled. She barely hid her horse-like teeth behind her hand as she laughed.

Tessa laughed as well. "And I must say, blue looks much better on you than red."

"Why thank you."

Arms spread out, Tessa looked once more at Quistis. Then she looked at Fujin. Finally, she closed her eyes as Scarlet raised an arm that had electricity dancing across it.

"No!" Quistis screamed as she sent a wave of water in Scarlet's direction. Caught off guard, the Sorceress was thrown before she could fire her lethal blast. While she still had the chance, Quistis had to talk to sense to Tessa. She had to break through whatever wall it was she had built. "You can't just march willingly into death!"

"Why the fuck not?" Tessa spat as she opened her eyes and looked at Quistis. "So you can feel good about saving me from my pathetic self? No thanks, you stuck up little bitch. I'm not worth saving, and you're the last person I would ever want to try."

Before she could blink, Quistis found herself thrown back. It wasn't by a magic blast. It wasn't even by Tessa.

"I would appreciate it if you didn't attack my Sorceress," the redheaded man told Quistis as he kicked her in the face yet again. Then he leapt away as someone, probably Vincent, fired at him. The man looked at the other warriors and smirked in that awful way he had. "Oh, it's you guys. Haven't seen you in awhile. Not since Junon, anyway."

"Reno," Cloud growled as he adjusted his grip on his sword. "What the fuck are you doing?"

The redheaded man rolled his eyes. "Um, I think I'm kicking your pathetic asses."

"I'll kill you."

Reno winked at the swordsman. "I doubt that, Cloud."

It was Cloud's turn to smirk. "Why shouldn't I? I killed Elena and Rude, after all. And everyone knows that you were the joke of the Turks. Nobody took you seriously. Especially not me."

The smug satisfaction left Reno. He charged, Mag-Rod at his side, and swung it at Cloud who easily dodged. But the Turk easily leapt over the strike from the blond man. Cloud wasn't so lucky with Reno's next attack, as the redhead's foot collided with the side of Cloud's head.

As soon as he landed, Reno leapt again to avoid Vincent's barrage of bullets.

Quistis rose to her feet, clutching her wounded arm, and staggered in Tessa's direction. She knew her mind should be on the battle that was beginning. In fact, Quistis knew many things. But she didn't care if she was making a mistake. Helping the frightened, confused girl seemed infinitely more important than destroying some Sorceress in that moment.

"Antessence…" she called out as the girl glared at her.

"Don't come near me, or I swear I'll kill you," the young woman threatened. And it wasn't a hollow one.

For a fraction of a second, Quistis considered it. She thought of turning her back on Tessa. The image of Scarlet laughing as Tessa crumpled to the ground danced across her mind.

"Fuck you!" Tessa screamed as she ran at Quistis. She moved to strike the older woman, but Quistis's SeeD training kicked in. She grabbed the outstretched arm, twisting it around and holding it behind Tessa. She held the girl to the ground. Her knee was buried in her back, but Tessa continued to struggle. "Damn you! Who the hell do you think you are?"

"I'm someone who cares."

Their eyes met, and Quistis saw belief in those red eyes. She saw the struggling emotions. And then, just as quickly as it had come, the battle inside the teenager had ended. Her eyes were set once more. Tessa breathed heavily and looked up.

"If you're going to do it, then now's your chance. Dumbass."

Quistis's entire world exploded into a maelstrom of pain.

---

Vincent fired at Reno once more, but the man with the mullet ducked under the blasts while bringing his Mag-Rod up to parry a strike from Cloud.

"You've never been this good…" the blond swordsman growled as he pressed his sword against Reno's rod. Sparks began flying. "Is this a result of being that bitch's lapdog?"

"What can I say? The pay isn't great, but the benefits are to die for," the redhead laughed as he pushed Cloud back with a sudden burst of strength. He leapt into the air once more to avoid Vincent's gunfire. "That's enough out of you."

Twisting his body in midair, Reno thrust his hand out with all of his strength. The Mag-Rod flew through the air. Not expecting the attack, Vincent was struck full-on by the makeshift projectile. His chest seemed to cave in as his back exploded outward in a rainbow of colour. Bodily fluids of the most macabre fashion stained the rocks while surprisingly colourful assortment of organs and tissue gushed from the hole in Vincent's body. Rather than collapse, though, his body began to disintegrate.

Enraged, Cloud roared. He swung his sword to the ground. When it connected, three blades of blue light shot out from the impact sight. Reno grabbed for and thrust his Mag-Rod into the ground. It absorbed the force of one of the blows, shattering, whilst Reno leapt over the other two.

"I really liked that, too," Reno said remorsefully as he looked at the remains of his weapon. "Oh well. Ashes to ashes and whatnot."

"Fucking bastard!"

---

She should be doing something. Fujin knew this. She felt the heat from the flames. The screams of a man who had watched his best friend die rung in her ears. Even though knew all these things, she continued to do nothing but stare at Hunter's corpse. No part of her wanted to get involved in the battle.

It was a selfish thought. Fujin didn't feel bad about it though. Those other people, the ones who were fighting, they were being just as selfish. They all fought for themselves. She had watched this boy die for someone else, but none present were doing anything for anyone else. They were being just as selfish. So, while she knew she should feel bad for doing nothing, she managed to rationalize it away.

---

Tessa watched Quistis twitch on the ground. The blonde woman groaned in pain. Her skin was covered in black burns, wounds that undoubtedly went far below the surface. For the first time, Tessa didn't find herself fighting the urge to run over and examine the victim, to use her medical training to try to save whomever it was. For the first time, she didn't have the urge. Instead, she looked away from her former Instructor and up to the woman who had attacked her.

Scarlet was laughing. Her hand was held in front of her mouth, and her teeth still weren't hidden. Tessa momentarily wondered why the Sorceress even tried.

Ignoring both blondes for a few seconds, Tessa looked over to the men. Truth be told, she couldn't stand any of them. And not just because of her false memories.

"Why?"

Scarlet stopped laughing, although her body did still shake from giggles. "Why what?"

Closing her eyes, Tessa breathed deeply. She thought that she had moved past it. Her faith in her abilities to stop caring had failed her once more. Damn it! What the fuck was wrong with her? "You… I…"

"What was that?" Scarlet mocked, holding a hand by her ear and leaning forward. "I'm afraid I can't hear you."

Sucking in another deep breath, Tessa clenched her fists and stared directly into Scarlet's eyes. "Why the fuck did you rape me?"

Everyone stopped when she screamed. She didn't give a damn. Her abilities were coming back. But not fast enough.

"Boss, you're a dyke?" Reno rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Well, that explains why you haven't succumbed to my manly sexiness."

Then his torso separated from his legs as Cloud gave a surprise low swing.

"I don't recall ever doing anything of the sort," Scarlet laughed. The death of her Knight didn't faze her in the slightest. In fact, she sent a nonchalant lightning bolt off in Cloud's direction with a yawn.

"You know what I mean." The girl gritted her teeth. Her eyes remained trained on Scarlet. "Why?"

"Really?" Scarlet narrowed her eyes evilly. "It was a backup plan should you somehow escape. We're not even sure how you and that boy pulled it off."

"Backup plan?" Tessa screamed. It was taking everything she had not to charge in full steam.

Quistis groaned and looked at Tessa, but the last thing Tessa wanted was to see the woman offering fake pity. The girl already knew that the woman really didn't care. So why keep up the act?

"Should you somehow get out, we didn't want the risk of you getting pregnant. At least, not until we had already observed the side-effects of the T-Virus on an embryo. Isn't that right Alex?" Scarlet looked past Tessa and at Fujin. "That's why you mutilated yourself. You hoped that you could enough damage to prevent a little bundle of joy from coming into the world. Didn't you?"

Why the fuck was it always about Fujin?

There was an explosion as several large boulders fell from the sky. Scarlet raised a barrier around herself. Tessa looked at Fujin, but the other girl refused to acknowledge her existence. "Damn it…"

She ran. Amongst some random pile of ooze, Tessa had seen it. It felt familiar in her hand despite the foreign substance all around it. Then she aimed and fired.

Fujin didn't scream. Not even a peep. The ones crying out were Cloud and Scarlet as they battled: the power of a god versus the power of one who had killed a self-proclaimed god. This only served to piss Tessa off even more. She stormed over to Fujin, ignoring Hunter's body. Grabbing the one-eyed woman by the hair so much like her own, Tessa forced Fujin to look at her.

"Damn it, you are not better than me! You are not more important!" She spat in Fujin's face while the cold metal barrel shoved itself into the older female's cheek. Blood ran freely from the gunshot in Fujin's shoulder. Tessa had been aiming for her head, but poor marksmanship had kicked in yet again. "I am something! I am more than you!"

She pulled the trigger again, and blood began pouring from Fujin's leg.

"Say it, damn you! I want you to fucking acknowledge my existence! Tell me that I'm real. Tell me that I'm more than just a copy of you. You aren't the important one. I am! Antessence Matleo is the one who is fucked up. Her youth was the one spent in a laboratory being poked and prodded. Her head was the one everyone fucked around with. Not you! Fujin, Alex, I don't give a damn. I am not you!"

Tears rolled down her face freely as she pulled the trigger yet again, blowing away part of Fujin's forearm. She still refused to speak. The other girl refused to scream.

"Say it, damn you! Say it!" Tessa commanded as she punches Fujin. She grabbed at the hole left by the first bullet. Her fingers dug deep into the flesh. Tendons, ligaments, and bone could be felt. She grabbed and twisted veins and arteries. She pulled them free and blood poured all over her arm and Fujin's chest.

Fujin remained silent.

Pulling her hand free, Tessa stood up. She looked at the gun, realizing that it was the same one she had used to killed Hunter. She smiled. "Well, at least the bastard will be buried next to his precious Alex."

Then an icicle sunk deep into the side of her ribcage. Tessa dropped the gun and fell. Her body twisted on its way down and she saw Quistis standing tentatively with her hands held out and her eyes closed.

She knew that she had been right.

---

Quistis couldn't look at what she had done. She couldn't open her eyes and face the reality everyone so desperately wanted to separate themselves from. She wouldn't let herself see yet another failure, yet another person she had intended to save die by her hand.

Instead, she listened to Cloud and Scarlet throw everything they had at one another.

---

Scarlet had fought this battle once before. She'd used the power of others to come out victorious. She had also lost just as many battles, but the tide of war was always in her favour. Using her feminine wiles was not beneath her. Neither was cheating: which is what she did when Cloud jumped at her with his sword held above his head.

The earth moved, swelling up and around the blond man before falling in on itself, taking him down as well. Wiping her gloves on her dress, she sighed. Murder was always a pain. But it was a necessary one. It was a shame Reno had been stupid enough to allow himself to get killed. Now she had to go and get her own hands dirty.

Taking note of her surroundings, the Sorceress saw only one standing challenger. Everyone else seemed to be dead. Such a pity. She'd so wanted to enjoy looking into their eyes as life left them.

Sound was nonexistent as she made her way over to Quistis. Truly, the SeeD was an amazing woman. Perhaps Scarlet would've taken her under wing if she hadn't been so righteous all the time. But that was the past. The world was her future. No more bowing down and kisses the asses of stupid, useless men. No more grabs for power. She had all of the power. And it felt good.

"I see that you've done my work for me," Scarlet said as she looked down at the bodies of Tessa and Fujin. Momentarily, she wondered if they would rise from the dead like normal people, or if they were exempt from that fate as well.

"Bitch!" Quistis screamed as she turned around and slapped Scarlet. There tears in her eyes. Good. It was always best to have someone cry before you killed them. "How dare you!"

"How dare I what?" Scarlet inquired as she touched her stinging cheek. Then she moved her jaw around before unleashing yet another wave of fire at Quistis.

However, the Seed jumped out of the way at and sent a volley of icicles at the former Shinra executive. Was this the only trick the girl knew?

"How dull," Scarlet yawned as she blocked the icicles effortlessly with well-aimed balls of fire. "Surely you can do better than that."

And she did. The older woman went flying after the boot connected with her chest. Landing five feet away, she felt something warm on her arms. She was lying smack dab between the corpses of Tessa and Fujin. Their blood was quite literally on her hands. Not that the woman saw the irony.

"Really, I thought we were going to have an impressive show of magical prowess in which I utterly defeated you." Scarlet smirked and sat up. "You disappointment me."

"And you…" but Quistis was interrupted.

Fujin bit down. Scarlet screamed and pushed the smiling woman away with an extra powerful blast of thunder magic, her base element, but it was too late. The skin had broken.

"You little cunt!" the woman in the blue dress screamed as she raised her hand in Fujin's direction. The target held her shoulder and coughed.

But something cut the breath from her lungs. Scarlet felt it wrap around her neck. She jerked a hand up and could feel the leather even with a glove on. Then there was a jerk and she fell dead.

---

Quistis stumbled over to Fujin. She looked at the other girl and grimaced. For a moment, she thought that she had seen been looking at Tessa, but then the bangs fell form over top of the eye patch.

A hand was placed on Fujin's chest and healing magic washed over the both of them. It wasn't enough to heal their wounds, but it would keep them alive. Quistis looked over at Tessa's body. The magically frozen spear still stuck out of her side. Regret and shame settled over the battlefield as Quistis turned her head away.

Flames leapt up from the ground and consumed the bodies of the fallen. Quistis kept her hand on Fujin's chest: felt her heartbeat as the dead were burnt to ash. And as the fire danced around them, she wept.


	22. Final Author Notes

Final Author's Notes

This is a very sad time for me. This is something I had spent over two years of my life working on. I started _Resurrection_ in November of 2005 as a pseudo Resident Evil fanfic. There were no grand plans to glorify Tessa, Hunter, or any character in particular. Well, aside from Quistis. XD

But I have a lot to say and really don't know how to put it. This is a very powerful feeling, knowing that this world has finally come to an end. While the first story may have been about zombies and action, I wanted something different for Redemption. I wanted it to be more than just "angst fic number 4380."

And, in time, it became more. It was an exploration of the psyches and intentions of the characters, borrowed and original. Quistis tried to struggle with her inability to save Irvine. Hunter faced the fact that when he was alone, he was just a normal person. And there are countless other examples.

But even with all of the side characters and subplots, Tessa remained at the center of everything. And she was the one suffering the most as the world began to fray. She dealt with it by lashing out at everyone around her. Because that was the only way she knew how to deal with things.

The title of this fic was more than just a pun, unlike its predecessor's. It was supposed to be about religion and people finding faith and the ability to forgive each other and themselves. It became deeper than that, though. To me, at least. It still remained a story about people finding forgiveness, but rather than turning to some higher power, they had to look at themselves.

And, indeed, some people did find redemption. Xu got it by trying to save the old man. Hunter did it when he gave his life up for Quistis even though he hated her for leaving Eisis to die.

But, more often than not, they failed to achieve that lofty goal. The most obvious is Quistis. She left Eisis behind in order to save her own skin, even though she had turned against the GMS in order to save the girl. And she vowed not to repeat the mistake with Tessa. But she did. It wasn't something she had planned, but Quistis had once more killed someone she planned on saving.

Then there's Cloud's inability to get over Aerith's death. He pushed all of feelings regarding her onto Eisis just because they looked alike, and he had deluded himself into thinking that he stood a chance of regaining his lost love through the shy girl. And all the while he hadn't even thought enough of Tifa to ask himself if she were even still alive.

But, again, the most glaring example is Tessa. For awhile, it seemed she would find some sort of happiness with Renea, but it was ultimately impossible. A person can't truly be happy unless they are happy with themselves. And as much as she truly did hate other people, the one Tessa hated most was herself. She hated her weakness. She hated that the "bad guys" held more interest in Fujin than her. And, ultimately, that self-hatred was projected onto Fujin.

And Fujin just all but denied Tessa's existence altogether. She ignored what she knew to be a fundamental truth. When she could have just reached out and dealt with the issue and maybe have achieved some kind of stability in Tessa, and even herself, she kept the other at arm's length, even going so far as to literally run away when she came around.

As for the ending… It definitely isn't the strongest thing I've ever written, but it's still incredibly realistic. Reno's constant need to make a joke is his downfall. Vincent really isn't that strong in close combat, Cloud is arrogant enough to think he can destroy someone with god-like powers by himself, and Scarlet was so wrapped up in her own self-importance that she ignored the mistakes of her past.

Quistis killing Tessa also showed that sometimes a person can't be saved no matter how hard you try. As well as being an example of people not trying as hard as they could. In truth, Tessa probably did deserve to die. She was a murderer. Initially, one believed that it was because she was going insane with (Tifa and) Elena following her around, but in reality it was just another form of denial. When Tessa did wake up and found out what had happened, that people had cared enough about her to save her life, she hid her confusion with anger. And then she killed Nida and, by extension, Ellone.

But I could debate the complexities of Tessa's messed up mind forever. Really, I think all I need to say is thank you. Thank you to the people who patiently waited for months so that I could put out something half-assed and then heap praise upon it that it didn't deserve. Thank you for pointing out my mistakes and making me a better writer. But, ultimately, thank you for being my friends. And knowing that I won't be opening up my mailbox and reading reviews from you guys about this insane trip is probably the saddest part. So, again, thank you.

3


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